


The Sea Calls for His Name

by merakiserein



Series: The Sea Calls for His Name [1]
Category: One Piece, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Crossover, Fighting, Fluff, Gen, I suppose?, Nakamaship, Reincarnation, an idea i had for a little while tbh, and throw it away, oh so canon divergent, self-indulgent really, spoilers for most arcs if not all, strawhats like to fuck things up, take canon, wano spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2019-08-17 11:04:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16515146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merakiserein/pseuds/merakiserein
Summary: Luffy knew this new world held new adventures. Adventures different from what he encountered on the Grand Line. All he had to do was find this adventure. And his nakama.Who knew Greek mythology tied into all of this?This world of gods and monsters will never know what hit them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So!  
> This is a story idea created by hours of reading and rereading reincarnation fics.  
> At first I was contemplating making it just an au fic, but i decided to be self-indulgent and spewed out this weird ass fic  
> gah  
> hope yall enjoyyyy

He embraced death with calm and no regrets. Everything he wanted to do was done. His nakama’s dreams were fulfilled and so was his. There was nothing left in that world for him. And so he embraced death as a new sort of adventure. Being reborn was…. An experience. He had spent quite a while in a somewhat murky subconsciousness, wondering where he was and what was happening. He couldn’t see, feel, smell, taste. But he could sense, and sometimes he could hear. Sounds of a soft woman’s voice calling his name and offering care and comfort brought warmth in his heart, and he yearned to find the source of the voice. But for now, he couldn’t, and he spent his time in a sort of slumber.

He was two when he awoke. He could open his eyes, see, hear, smell, feel, _taste_. And he knew _everything_ of his past life.

He was Monkey D. Luffy, the second Pirate King.

And he was not in his normal world.


	2. Chapter 2

Being two years old was exhausting. Everything was too big- no, he was too small. Each action he took required much more energy than he remembered, and it irritated him to no end.

It was to his extreme delight when he discovered he had retained his haki, and spent most of his time reaching out his senses to get his bearings on this strange new world. His devil fruit abilities were not quite there yet, but deep inside he knew it was there, waiting to develop.

He discovered the source of the voice, a young woman of warm brown hair and eyes. His mother. He didn’t know her name yet, but he knew their last name was Jackson, as she called him by his full name whenever he decided to explore out of her field of vision. She smelled like warmth and cookies, and Luffy loved her immediately and with his whole heart, as he tended to do. She accepted his strangeness easily as if she was expecting it all. The woman had balls of steel. She didn’t even yell or anything when he finally began to stretch. She was the best. He later learned her name was Sally. 

As said before, this world was strange, very strange. For one, the language spoken was different from the language of the Blues. And there was more than one. One was smooth and yet distinct, while the other was faster and contained sounds created by the rolling of the tongue. It took him a while to speak in this body, as he tried to comprehend the words his mother used. The faster one was what was mainly used, and the other something his mother used when talking onto something that was like a den den mushi but box-shaped and grey. It was also used when talking to other people. But not usually him. The faster one (he later learned it was called Spanish) was what he spoke first, tongue stumbling over the unfamiliar words. But he learned quickly and his speech became smoother, more fluent. The second language, English, was harder. It was similar to Spanish but bit more simple in some parts and more complicated in others. Luffy bet that Nami would have been oh so shocked to know that he knew  _ three _ languages. 

(It took a long time to say “kitchen” instead of “chicken”.)

When he was seven years old, he stood in front of the mirror and decided, no, he was not going to live without  _ some _ symbol from his past life. Sure he looked the same, save his sea-green eyes, but something felt off.

He cut under his eye again.

And was never let near the knives. Ever. Again.

He missed his nakama. He missed the sea, the rush of adrenaline, the warmth of his  _ family _ . Many days and nights were spent wondering if he was alone in this world or if others can come along on this brand new adventure. He sure hoped they did. It wouldn’t be as fun without them. Luffy decided that he would find a way to get a strawhat like the one he was so well known for.

Luffy grew as normal children did. He ate unlike normal children. He kind of felt sorry at the amount he ate, as he could see that their little family of two were not the best off. But Sally had always pushed food to him when he wished and looked happy when he ate it with his usual gusto. So he concluded that it wasn’t that big of a deal. 

School was… an experience. Once in kindergarten, a snake had crawled into his cot and he had knocked it out with his Conqueror’s Haki. The teachers had freaked at the sight of him sitting up with an unconscious snake in his baby hands. There were other freaky incidents that he hadn’t paid much attention to. To be fair, the only reason he had really kept those incidents in mind was due to how the people around his reacted when he casually brought it up in conversation. He didn’t quite understand. Sure, this wasn’t the Blues and things worked differently in this strange world, but he could tell things weren’t 100% percent normal. Didn’t they?

His physical strength was something he needed to work on. He was no longer in a forest, running from larger animals and shady bandits. Instead, he was stuck in various buildings, learning things he didn’t think he needed. It was  _ boring _ . He worked out at home as best as he could, but it wasn’t enough. His mother eventually enrolled him in a martial arts class and he quickly became strong enough to beat everyone in the building but it  _ wasn’t enough _ . This world had great adventures to go on, and he wanted to be up to take on all the challenges thrown at him. 


	3. Chapter 3

Like said before, school was  _ boring _ . He went to so many different schools and kicked out for so many different reasons. He didn’t do his work, he was disruptive, he broke the rules; the list went on and on. He was meant for  _ freedom _ , not six hours of monotonous learning. 

This went on until he was twelve when he was enrolled in Yancy Academy. A school where he would stay and live in during the school years, visiting home during the holidays and weekends. Luffy grudgingly promised his mother that he would actually try and to avoid getting into too much trouble. He didn’t want to leave. It meant being apart from his mother and leaving her alone with the man he had the ungodly pleasure to called his step-dad. Sally’s explanation that he was protecting him in ways he will learn when older made no sense to him. The man radiated bad emotions and stunk like shit, but his mother had asked him to be nice, so he said nothing. Luffy had grown with Ace and Sabo and had Nami as a crewmate, and had learned to prank and trick silently and subtly. It was a skill he used against Smelly Gabe constantly.

Yancy Academy was unpleasant. The kids there were labeled as problem children as he was, except they were worse. They were rude, annoying, disrespectful, and bothersome. At least he had the decency to be respectful in some ways. And he mostly just slept in class and stuff.  The stuff he had gotten expelled for was usually not even in the classroom.

Now that he actually put effort into his studies, his grades rose. They weren’t the best, but they were average, better than the failing grades he had in years past. Luffy had discovered that math was easier when he was thinking in terms of meat and that science was explosive and history reminded him of Robin. Health class reminded him of Chopper, English strangely of Sanji, and PE was physical stuff. Something he was < _ good> _ at. 

Speaking of PE, Luffy had expected to lose all energy and sink like a rock once he had to get into the pool despite his complaints. In fact, it was the opposite. Energy rushed into him, and swimming had come to him naturally. It was all very strange. He had to stretch in the locker room to make sure he still had his abilities and had asked his classmates if they felt the same, which earned him some odd stares and answers of no. He chalked it up to another mystery of this strange, strange world.

Mrs. Dodds gave him an awful feeling. She felt like death, like an evil spirit lying in wait. And she seemed to hate him specifically. It was very annoying. Mr. Brunner, on the other hand, was the opposite. The handicapped man was gruff but kind, teaching history in a way that caught his attention. Stories of the Greek heroes adventuring and traveling the world- it was everything he loved. And Mr. Brunner seemed to take a special interest in him as well. He would always ask Luffy questions, expecting him to know the answer and looking mildly disappointed when the boy answered incorrectly. Luffy’s favorite days of history was when Mr. Brunner would dress up in armor and race against the students to write down all the Greek heroes and their mother. He would always lose, but it was just so cool to see his teacher dressed in armor and wielding a bronze sword. The rubber boy could tell that there was more to his teacher than met the eye. 

It was nearing the end of the school year and the class had been taken on a field trip to a museum. It was fairly uninteresting save for a couple cool murals drawn of the Greek myths. Mr. Brunner had thrown some questions about them to him and Luffy was proud to say that he actually knew the answer and had responded accordingly. One of the girls, Luffy couldn’t be bothered to remember her name, had tried to steal his food but he had simply glared and let loose a little haki and she had quickly scampered away, whimpering. He had no remorse over using haki, it was  _ his _  food and he really didn’t want to cause any commotion. So he sat by the fountain and happily ate his ridiculously amount of food. 

“Mr. Jackson?” Luffy looked, brows furrowing as he recognized the grating voice of Mrs. Dodds. 

“Yeah?” he responded, chewing on his sandwich.

“Ms. Nancy here has told me you were bullying her?”

Luffy blinked, looking over to where Nancy stood behind the teacher, a smirk on her face. When she met his eyes, she squeaked lightly and ducked behind Mrs. Dodds. He slowly looked up to meet Mrs. Dodds’ gaze. “I didn’t do anything. She tried to steal my food.” he deadpanned, not pausing in his consumption of food.

Mrs. Dodds narrowed her eyes and Luffy paused for a moment, feeling a wave of malice exude from her wrinkly figure. “Follow me inside, Mr. Jackson.” With that she turned, walking towards the museum.

Luffy groaned, shoving his unfinished food back into his back. Great. And he was hoping to avoid trouble. Sending a small glare to Nancy, he followed the old teacher, speeding up to a small jog when he saw Mrs. Dodds glare at him from the opening of the building. She was fast for an old woman.

Mr. Brunner’s eyes followed him to the door. 

 

Inside was darker than he remembered and colder. Mrs. Dodds was already across the hallway, waiting at the doorway of a dark room. Holy  _ shit  _ the woman was fast. Old women usually weren’t that fast, were they? With a huff, the raven-haired boy just jogged a bit faster, following the teacher as she turned into the dark room. It was the same exhibit that had the Greek myth murals, except this time there was no one else. The pre-algebra teacher was standing in front of the mural, and was that- growling?

Luffy was pretty sure old women didn’t growl.

“You’ve been giving us problems, honey,” she said.

Luffy simply tilted his head. “I’m trying not to.” 

“Did you really think you’d get away with it?” She said, tugging on the cuffs of her leather jacket. Seriously, that woman looked like some sort of biker with that on.

The rubber boy opened his mouth, then shut it, frowning. “Get away with what?” He could hear thunder in the distance. Had it been stormy outside? Yeah, yeah it had. He vaguely thought of Nami.

“We are not fools, Luffy Jackson,” said Mrs. Dodds, snapping Luffy out of his thoughts. “It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain.”

Luffy paused. What in the four Blues was she talking about? “What?” he asked dumbly.

“Time’s up,” she hissed, turning to Luffy.

She began to change. Leather jacket became wings, nails became claws, and teeth became fangs. And Luffy couldn’t help but think  _ finally _ . It was getting a little boring.

In front of him stood, no,  _ flew _  a wrinkled hag who snarled and look about ready to shred him. Luffy crouched, arms ready to duke it out.

He felt the presence of Mr. Brunner approach and sharply turned, watching at the man who Luffy swore was at the bottom of the museum wheel into the room. “What ho, Luffy!” He yelled, throwing something (Was that a  _ pen _ ?) into the air. He swiped it out of the air, eyes widening as he saw the bronze sword in his hand. 

“Cool!” He exclaimed, looking up to thank his teacher, only to see him gone. 

Since when were all these old geezers so fast?

The rubber boy dodged as the weird hag swiped down at him, hearing the claw slash at the air where he stood before. Glancing at the sword in his hand, he thought a bit. He didn’t know how to use swords. Those were for Zoro. With a grin, he dropped it, hand curling into a fist. Besides, he missed the feel of a full-on brawl. 

“What are you-” hissed Mrs. Dodds, only to be interrupted by the fist that slammed into her chest. She shrieked, flying across the room and tumbling into the wall. Luffy stood in front of her with wild eyes and a toothy grin.

“Bring it on!” He whooped, getting ready to punch once more. Mrs. Dodds let out an angry cry, flying high into the air and swooping towards the boy, who simply punched her to the side, laughing as she skidded across the floor. 

“You  _ impudent _ \- are you  _ toying _  with me?” Anger rushed through the wrinkled hag as she growled, claws outstretched. “You overestimate yourself boy! Do not think you can beat  _ me _ , the Fury Alecto!”

Luffy cocked his head to the side. “Isn’t that the thing from the under thingy?”

Mrs. Dodds merely shrieked in indignation, rushing at him once more. Luffy readied himself, deciding to end it in this punch. He wanted to ask Mr. Brunner about the weird sword. Infusing his fist with haki, he stretched back, grinning at the confusion that flashed in the hag’s eyes. 

“Gomu gomu no…….. Pistol!” He yelled, sending his fist flying, smashing into Mrs. Dodds face. She immediately exploded into yellow dust, the scent of sulfur and the faint screech blowing into the air. “What the-” Luffy blinked, sneezing as the dust got into his nose. “Eugh….. Weird dust thingies.” Rubbing his nose, he stared at where Mrs. Dodds once was, staring as the presence of evil slowly began to fade. “That was  _ weird _ .” he thought out loud, turning to grab the sword. I mean seriously, weird monsters bursting into yellow dust? Plus it had been so much easier than he had expected. He wasn’t sure whether or not he felt proud of himself or disappointed.

The sword was no longer there, but a pen was, lying innocently on the tile floor. Luffy scooped it up, examining the object as he walked out of the exhibit and towards the entrance. It had been a sword before, he knew that. So how was it a pen?

He concluded that it was a mystery sword as he walked back into the daylight.

“Ah, Mr. Jackson,” Mr. Brunner said as he looked up, looking a little distracted. “That would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil next time.”

“Shishishi, thanks for the mystery sword, but I didn’t need it,” Luffy said, handing the pen over.

Mr. Brunner simply frowned. “Sword? Whatever do you mean?”

“Or is it a mystery pen?” Luffy muttered, looking up as he heard the call to go back to the bus, frowning as he saw a perky blonde woman leading the other children to the bus. “Who’s that?”

He could feel Mr. Brunner stare at him strangely. “That’s Mrs. Kerr. Your teacher. Are you feeling alright?”

Luffy stared back. “Yup!”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhhh so I really like the headcanon that Percy was Hispanic and there's also the fact that Luffy was said to be Brazilian?   
> so it's not exactly canon-compliant and stuff but uh  
> yeah they speak spanish  
> it's usually shown by the whole sentence being italicized  
> that's how it's gonna be for every non-english language  
> i'll try to make it clear when they're speaking in another language and that it's not italicized for emphasis

The rest of the school year was irritatingly boring. After his encounter with the hag, nothing had happened. But it was in a strange way that everything went back to normal. Nobody remembered Mrs. Dodds, and she was replaced by Mrs. Kerr. Whenever he tried to ask Mr. Brunner about the mystery pen sword, he would be met with concerned stared and questions about his well being.

The end of the year was rolling around, and he still had no answers. Nor anything else. It was all a little infuriatingly the same. At least he would be going home soon. He missed his mom and her hugs. Maybe they could go to the beach again, where Luffy could reconnect with the sea and remember all the adventures with his crew. He rubbed absentmindedly at his scar.

Exams were  _ hard _ . Luffy had done what he could, but he had the feeling that it wasn’t very good. Bleh. Studying sucked. He was about to walk out of the history classroom, his last exam, when Mr. Brunner called him back.

“Luffy,” he started, watching the rubber boy with what Luffy recognized as the eyes of one who had seen much sadness. “Do be careful over the summer.”

Luffy simply grinned widely, flashing a thumbs up. “Can’t promise that! But I’ll be ok.”

The old history teacher frowned. “I am being serious. There are many dangers out there and-”

“I’m being serious too.” Luffy interrupted. “I’ll be fine. If something happens, I can just beat them up like I did with the weird hag.”

Mr. Brunner frowned, but Luffy could see the flash of surprise in his eyes. “I don’t know what you mean, but do be careful.”

Luffy simply flashed a smile and left with a cheerful goodbye. 

The trip home was spent thinking about things he could possibly do over the summer. The bus had broke down at one point and he had seen three old ladies knitting, but he paid them no mind. He did find it strange how their eyes would follow him and how the snip of the scissors echoed across four lanes of traffic. Once he got off the bus when it was close to his apartment, a smile crept onto his face, excited to see Sally again. He ran the entire way back, enjoying the cool weather and the exercise it gave.

That smile fell as soon as he reached his doorway, not sensing Sally but sensing Smelly Gabe and a couple other presences he could recognize as the ugly man’s buddies. With a roll of his eyes, he opened the door, cold eyes scanning the trash that littered the room and then the group of men on the couch. 

“Where’s mom?” He asked simply. 

“At work,” grumbled Gabe. “Got any cash?”

“No.”

The man looked up, raising a greasy brow. “You took a taxi from the bus terminal. Probably paid with a twenty, got maybe six, seven dollars.”

Luffy snorted, a dangerous smirk stretching onto his face. “Nope,” he responded. “No taxi. I ran.”

Gabe’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “Bullshit. There’s no way anyone could  _ run _ from there to here and be ok.”

“Not my fault that an old geezer like you can’t do it.”

“Why you-” Gabe stood up, eyes ablaze.

Luffy let loose a bit of haki, smirk widening as he watched Gabe and his buddies grow pale and shaky. Without a word, he walked back into his room.

His room was a mess. Gabe had temporarily moved in while he was gone apparently. With a roll of his eyes, he began to pick up the smelly pieces of trash and other belongings, throwing them out the window.

“Luffy?” Sally's voice cut through the air, stopping Luffy in the middle of throwing the last pieces of Gabe’s stuff through the window. With a final heave, he turned, eyes and smile bright. 

“Mom!”

Sally’s eyes flicked over to the window. “Were you throwing something out the window?”

Luffy simply laughed and hugged her tightly. She hugged back. 

“I have candy for you. Red, blue, and yellow, just how you liked it.”

With a cheer, Luffy dragged Sally over to the bed, flopping down to attack the sweets. Sally held him, asking him about how Yancy was and such. He responded truthfully, saying it was boring but Mr. Brunner was cool and Mrs. Dodds was weird and hey mom, she turned into a weird flying hag and tried to attack me, but I punched her and she poofed into yellow dust and it was really weird but kinda disappointing because I wanted more oh and Mr. Brunner threw me a mystery pen sword but everyone forgot the weird teacher and Mr. Brunner told me to be safe but it'll be ok cause I can protect myself. He had slipped into Spanish, the language he was most comfortable talking in with his mom. 

His ramble was cut off when he felt the arms around him tense and squeeze a little tighter. He looked up, frowning as he saw his mother’s pale face. 

“Mama?” he said softly. “ _ Are you ok?” _

Sally simply blinked, looking down at Luffy with a shaky smile. “ _ I’m fine, hijo. Do you want to go to the beach later?” _

Luffy straightened up, sea-green eyes growing brighter.  “ _ Yes.” _ He breathed out. 

Chuckling, Sally stood up. “ _ Let me get ready and we’ll be off.” _

“Sally! Bean dip!”

Luffy growled, glaring at the direction from where the low voice had come from.

“ _ Luffy.”  _ Sally said softly. 

Luffy looked up, eyes filled with rage. “ _ Mama, why do you stay with him? You said it was to protect me or something, but I can protect myself! He’s worse than anything I can think of. _ ”

Sally sighed, ruffling his hair. “ _ I’ll explain at the beach, ok, honey? But for now, don’t provoke him.” _

Gabe’s ugly head poked through the door, eyes narrowing. “Sally. Bean dip.”

“I’m on my way,” Sally said, giving a small smile as she left the room.

Luffy sighed, slumping back onto his bed. 


	5. Chapter 5

It didn’t take long for Sally to get ready and make stupid Gabe’s bean dip. The smelly old man didn’t even deserve the beauty of Sally’s bean dip. And the entire time, Gabe had complained about how he would lose his car for the duration of the trip, as Sally and Luffy would be taking it.

It was frustrating to stay still and not whoop his ass as Luffy desired.

But it wasn’t long before they were on their way to Montauk, luggage stored in the trunk and Luffy chatting amiably throughout the entire trip. He found conversation in everything he could, from the weird weather to the Greek mythology he knew. 

But not his past life. No, that was something he felt needed to be hidden for now.

Montauk was beautiful.

Sure, it wasn’t perfect. There was sand everywhere, bugs hidden in every crevice, and usually too cold to do much. But it was beautiful. It reminded them both of their past, Sally with Luffy’s absent dad and Luffy with his past life and adventures.

Luffy enjoyed listening to Sally talk about his dad. She looked younger, happier, and it was clear she loved the man. He held no bitter feelings towards him. Sure, he was a little disappointed that he hadn’t stayed with his mom, but he was used to not having a dad. It didn’t bother him. He had his mother and his nakama. It was ok. 

Luffy distantly wondered if his dad was a pirate. He had been with his mother for a month, then had gone out to sea and was lost. It seemed like a typically pirate story and was similar to Yasopp’s story. When he presented this question to Sally, she had simply frowned and shook her head. 

He stood at the beach now, giggling as the seawater lapped at his ankles, the cool water feeling comforting. The sea never felt too cold for him. It felt cool, sure, but it wasn’t to the point where he couldn’t bear to be in the ocean. No, the ocean was comforting, inviting. Such an opposite to his past life. And so he embraced it, constantly exploring the ocean and what it felt like to actually  _ swim _ . He decided that he loved swimming. 

It got dark quick, so he and Sally made a fire, roasting marshmallows and at Luffy’s insistence, meat. He chatted about the strange things he had seen and watched as his mother’s eyes grow darker.

“ _ What was Dad like, Ma?” _ Luffy asked, speech quick in Spanish as always. 

Sally’s eyes immediately became misty, lost in memory. “ _ He was kind. Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes. _ ” She smiled at the memory, looking over at Luffy, who gently touched his scar.

“ _ What was his name _ ?” Luffy asked softly. It was the one piece of information that she never gave.

Sally’s eyes became bright with unshed tears and Luffy stiffened, afraid he had said the wrong thing. 

“ _ Oh, Luffy…” _ Sally sighed, cupping his cheek with her warm hand, smiling as Luffy leaned into the touch. “ _ You’ll learn soon. _ ” She sighed once more, looking impossibly sad.

“ _ In the morning, I’m going to take you to a summer camp your father advised me to take you to. You’re  _ **_special_ ** _ , Luffy, more than you can imagine,”  _ she began, thumb softly rubbing the scar. “ _ I didn’t want to send you, because it could mean I wouldn’t see you again, but…. With what you’ve seen so far, it’s necessary for your safety.” _

Luffy frowned. It was just a summer camp, why would he not see her again? “ _ Ma, I can protect myself. I don’t get it.” _

Sally simply smiled gently, standing up. “Things will be explained tomorrow. I don’t think I can do a very good job of it. Let’s sleep, and we can deal with it tomorrow, hm?”

Luffy watched her carefully, nodding slowly. “Ok,” he responded, reverting back to English as well. 

 

His dreams that night were strange. Stranger than usual.

On the beach, there were two magnificent creatures fighting. A white horse and a golden eagle, fighting viciously. Wounds were apparently on both creatures, and the ground rumbled, a voice deep within the earth goading the two creatures to fight more, to spill more blood than had already been spilled.

Luffy had the gut feeling that he should stop the two from fighting. But he couldn’t move. Every movement was in slow motion, like he was stuck in honey. He couldn’t sense his haki like usual, and his limbs didn’t stretch as they normally did. He could feel panic, although it felt distant somehow, gnawing at his stomach. The eagle swooped down to claw the horse’s wide eyes and he screamed “ _ No!” _

He woke up with a start.

He sat up, frowning at the sweat that coated his neck and face, rubbing his chest. A storm thundered outside and he got up, moving aside the curtains to watch the storm outside.

With the next thunderclap, Sally shot out of bed, eyes wide. “Hurricane.”

Luffy frowned. “Is that normal?”

Sally was already shoving everything back into the bags, hurriedly slipping on a coat. “Hurry Luffy and get ready. We have to go,  _ now. _ ”

He blinked and quickly got ready, keeping pace with his mother’s frantic movements. He could sense something not human in the storm, a good distance away but surely making its way to them. Sally pulled him out into the storm, battling against the wind to slip into the car, where she promptly started it up and began driving quickly to a location unknown to Luffy.

“ _ I should’ve known, I was hoping…”  _ Sally quickly went into incoherent Spanish muttering.

Luffy tilted his head, watching the storm. “ _ Is this cause of the monster out there?” _

Sally threw a surprised glance over at him before looking back at the road. “ _ I don’t know how you know that, but yes. _ ”

“Shishishi,” he chuckled. “ _ I hope I get to fight it.” _

_ “You are NOT fighting it!” _ Sally yelled, and Luffy shut up, sobered by the panic lacing her voice.

The rest of the trip was spent in mostly silence, Sally muttering under her breath as she drove the car faster than Luffy had ever seen her drive. He could hear the angry roars of whatever was behind him, and he could sense it was getting close very very quickly. Sally made some hard turns, and Luffy caught a glimpse of a sign that said: “Pick your own strawberries!”

“Just another mile. Please. Please.” Sally whispered.

The hair at the back of Luffy’s neck rose and he reacted without thinking, throwing himself over his mother protectively as she yelled his name. 

An explosion rocked the car and Luffy felt numb, hot, and pained at the same time. He had squeezed his eyes shut but he could feel himself moving around, although it strangely felt like it was slowed down. All he heard was a deafening crash.

Then everything sped up and time was normal again, and he found himself still curled around his mother, glass shards half embedded into his rubber skin. Looking up blearily, he could see that the car had in fact,  _ not _ exploded, rather it had been thrown into a ditch. A smoking mark where he deduced the car had once stood confirmed his suspicions. Lightning had struck the car. In the midst of his staring, he was pushed off Sally, who promptly cried out and began to inspect his injuries, unshed tears welling up. 

“Luffy! Luffy, oh my gods, why did you do that?!” She squeaked, examining the glass shards. “You need to get to camp fast, they can help you and you'll be safe.” Glancing up, she saw a tall twisted tree, standing proudly on a hill just a distance off. “Luffy, go to past the tree and run until you see a big house. They can help you there. I'll distract the monster.”

Luffy snapped out of his mild daze, looking up at Sally with wide eyes. “What?! I'm not leaving you here! Come with me!”

Sally shook her head sadly. “I can't cross the property line. Now hurry, try to get a door open.”

“I’m not leaving you.” He responded, turning to jiggle the door handle behind him. The door refused to budge. “Ma, the door isn't opening.” 

He heard Sally huffed in frustration behind him and knew that she had no luck either. Glancing up, he eyed the windshield. Sally quickly took noticed and glared at the young boy. 

“No, you are  _ not _ punching through the windshield.”

“But Ma-”

“ _ No. _ Let me see if I can get the sunroof open.”

Turns out the sunroof  _ did _ open. At Sally's insistence, Luffy wiggled out first, then reached into to pull Sally out. The roar of the creature was close now, much closer, and he could see a tall shadowy figure in the fog. 

Sally cursed under her breath and Luffy blinked, processing this. Sally never cursed. She was hella stressed. She grabbed Luffy's arm and began to run, pulling the boy along. The car exploded behind them. Oops.

The creature stomped through the shadows, revealing itself and causing Luffy's eyes to widen in excitement and Sally to gasp as she took notice of the creature as well.

The monster reminded Luffy of Chopper's Monster Point, although the creature was a hell of a lot smaller than it. Although the head was that of a bull, complete with the horns, the body resembled that of a really really buff human. The body was covered in fur as well, and the feet were that of bulls. It was wearing nothing except white undies, which Luffy found strange but not strange at the same time. Franky ran around in speedos, for Christ's sake. 

His eyes shone as his steps faltered, watching the monster approach. “So cooooool!” he gushed, stopping with a small squeak as Sally pushed him forward. 

“Luffy, go! Stop getting distracted!” she yelled, and Luffy complied, his speed causing him to drag Sally along this time. 

They reached the tree in record time when they hit a snag. While Luffy passed the tree with no hindrance, Sally was stopped as if she had hit a barrier. 

“Luffy, I can't go any further, just get to the house and ask for help,” she pleaded. Behind her, the creature had begun to rush forward. 

Luffy grit his teeth, eyes flicking to the monster and then to his mom. “I’m not leaving you!” he said, stepping forward to stand by Sally. 

Her eyes saddened, placing her hands on his shoulders. Then with a grunt, she pushed Luffy back into the invisible barrier, sending him tumbling down the hill with a yell. “RUN! NOW!” 

Jumping up with a gasp, Luffy stumbled, trying to regain his balance. “MOM!” He yelled, sprinting up the hill. He could hear Sally yelling at the bull-headed monster, trying to lead it away. 

Then he heard a scream. 

Without thought, he activated Gear Second, flying up the hill and towards the scream with wild eyes. The monster stood in front of him, holding a struggling Sally in its fist. Her eyes were wide, and grew wider when she saw Luffy rushing towards them. 

“N-no! Go back… get help!” she choked out. 

The monster squeezed. And she burst into golden light. 

Luffy screamed, fist raised to punch the monster. In a burst of surprising speed, it looked up, swiping its hand to knock Luffy back into the tree. 

The breath was knocked out of him but he was without injury, thanks to his devil fruit abilities. Leaning against the tree, Luffy stood up, rage fueling his body. 

And where his hand touched the tree, he could feel energy trimming through him, similar to how he felt when he was in the ocean. Only this time it was warmer and filled with love. 

He grit his teeth, activating Gear Second once more. Leaping into the air and towards the bull-man, he let his fist trail behind him, covering it in haki. 

Eyes and fist now alight with rage, he sent his flaming fist forward, crying out at the top of his lungs. 

“RED HAWK!” 

The fist hit the creature squarely in the chest, and it stood no chance against the flames of rage that licked its fur. With a roar it burst into dust, not like Sally, but like Mrs. Dodds. The sulfuric dust blew away in the wind and Luffy paid it no mind, running to the site as soon as he landed to look around with panicked eyes.

“MOM!” He yelled, breathing heavily. “ _ MAMA! WHERE ARE YOU?”  _

There was no answer. Unbidden tears sprang to his eyes and he hastily rubbed them away, hissing lightly as the glass cut his cheek. Staring at his bloodied hands, he bit his lip, curling them into fists, not caring for the pain and blood that sprang forth. He was still weak. He couldn't protect his mother, even though he had promised himself he would grow strong to protect his loved ones. 

Taking a deep breath, he turned, determined sea-green eyes watching the twisted tree on the hill. Sally had told him to go there for help, right? Maybe they could help him get her back. With that thought in mind, he marched on forward, hand absentmindedly brushing against the tree as he passed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Luffy has such a strange character  
> he's very simplistic yet is able to grasp hidden emotional concepts  
> I just hope i'm getting his character correct ;; writing is hard
> 
> ack and trying to figure out plot and stuff is hard too


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm mildly sad that there isn't a pjo/op crossover on tumblr yet  
> well i couldn't find one yet :(((  
> i get that it'll be hard with the canon parentages and stuff but haha
> 
> ;w;

_Knock knock_.

Luffy waited for a response, features grim. He had left his jacket in the car. The cold had settled into his skin and he could feel the light sting on his cheeks, but it didn't bother him. The blood on his hands was cold and becoming crusty, but with each movement the shards dug deeper, causing more of the warm blood to spill forward.

All this was in the back of Luffy's head. Plans and ideas of what to do swarmed through his mind as he waited. He wasn't dumb after all. As a captain and Pirate King, he needed some sort of tactical mindset. Although most plans were created on the spot. Maybe he wasn't _good_ at following other people's plans, but he could follow his own with varying levels of success. Besides, he wasn't rushing into anything currently. He didn't even know _what_ to rush into with anger fueling his actions.

He was tired. Mental exhaustion weighed at him, and although the physical activities of the day weren't exactly enough to tire him, the mental ones were. He felt drained and slightly numb. It didn't help that a twelve-year-old body reacted more strongly with negative emotions.

The door opened and he looked up sharply, mouth open to ask for help. But his words faltered as his gaze fell upon the figure.

There _stood_ Mr. Brunner. As Luffy's gaze trailed down, his eyes widened slightly as he was met with horse legs rather than human.

His mind raced. Of course he knew monsters existed, but first off he didn't know what kinds. Second off, Mr. Brunner looked like those pirates from Punk Hazard. They were human, but with animal limbs because of a certain someone. Someone with Devil Fruit abilities. Someone Luffy considered a close friend.

“Mr. Brunner?” he stuttered, tilting his head slightly as he looked up to the concerned face of the older man. “Y-you're not human anymore?”

The man frowned. “Young man, I never _was_ human. Come in. It's cold outside and you are _bleeding_. You must tell me what happened.”

Luffy nodded, dumbly following him in. At Mr. Brunner’s request, he sat at the couch, eyes wandering around the room. Rather than a typical living room, it looked more like a game room. A Pac-Man machine stood at the wall as well as a pool table and a T.V. There were cards and other game pieces scattered on the table in the corner as well as soda cans. He looked up as the sound of horse hooves came close, watching as Mr. Brunner kneeled beside him, first aid kit in his hands.

“Oh my, the glass is well embedded in your skin. It'll hurt when I take it out.” Mr. Brunner frowned as he gently began to clean off the blood. “Tell me, what happened?”

“We were at the beach and there was a storm,” Luffy started. “Then we woke up at night and there was a monster in its way. So Mama took me to the car and we drove really fast towards here but the car got struck by lightning,” here Luffy wiggled his hands, “and glass got in my hands. The weird monster caught up and it looked like a bull man. Mom tried to make me run but I wasn't going to abandon her so I ran back but the monster already caught her.” Chiron had to stop him from squeezing his hands into fists. “The monster did something and she disappeared in some sort of mystery light. I punched the monster and it poofed like Mrs. Dodds did.” Luffy looked Mr. Brunner square in the eyes. “My mom said to come here for help. Please, help me get her back.”

The centaur sighed, beginning to gently pick the glass shards out from the strangely rubbery skin. “I will need you to rest before I can help you. I will need to explain some information as well. I'll explain the situation and then you must rest. Is that understood?”

Luffy paused, the need and desire to find his mother right away screaming at him but the more logical side yelling as well, telling him that Mr. Brunner was right. He grit his teeth. “Fine.”

The man hummed, a small pile of bloodied glass shards accumulating on the small coffee table next to him. To be completely honest, he was mildly impressed at the young boy's pain tolerance. And the anger and willpower within him… it was quite awe-inspiring. “Do you recall the Greek mythology from class?” At Luffy's affirmative grunt, he continued. “Those myths are real. The gods of Olympus, the heroes, the monsters; they all exist in this world. The reason why normal people are unaware of this is due to the Mist, a magical power that obscures the mortal eye from the mythical world. I am one of such mythical figures. My true name is Chiron, the trainer of heroes.” He looked up to judge Luffy's reaction.

To his surprise, the young boy was taking it surprisingly well. He merely nodded, sea-green eyes sharp with comprehension. Hm. It was like he expected it all, or had seen something of similar curiosity. He continued.

“This is Camp Half-Blood. It is a place of sanctuary for demigods, half-gods, half mortal. It is not uncommon for a god or goddess to gain interest in a mortal and have a child or children as a result. Most of these gods are the Olympians, but there are children of minor gods here as well. We have cabins for each of the twelve Olympians, although not all of them are occupied. Many of these children have not been claimed, so we have no knowledge of who their parent may be.”

Luffy tilted his head, eyes trained on his hands, watching the shards slowly disappear from his wounds due to Mr. Brunner- no, _Chiron's_ careful operation. “So who's my dad?”

Chiron hummed, cleaning the wounds after making sure all the glass had been removed. “We won't know for sure until you have been claimed. And it may be a while before that happens.”

Luffy frowned. “So what about my mom?”

Frowning, Chiron stood up. “That is something I am not quite sure of yet. Pardon me, I must get you something to drink to help with those wounds. Don't touch it now.” He left the room, the clip-clop of his hooves moving to a different part of the house.

Sighing, Luffy slumped back, eyes inspecting the ceiling. There were some grape vines that stretched over the ceiling, the red-purple fruit hanging off the vines in clumps, some half-hidden in the large leaves. Rest…. Rest, then the search for his mom. He _knew_ she wasn’t dead. He’d seen death, and it was nothing like that. No, it was something much different. And there was the fact that Greek mythology was real. The rubber boy sighed, throwing an arm over his eyes. He wanted his nakama back. He didn’t even know if they were out there. All he knew was that he was thrown into this new world and his mother was gone. His heart ached, wishing for the comfort that only his nakama and mother was able to give. With another sigh he lifted his arm, watching as Chiron clopped forward, an iced drink in his hand. It looked golden, quite pretty, although pretty felt like an odd word to describe a drink. A green and yellow striped bendy straw was in the glass cup. Wordlessly, he accepted the drink, taking a sip as Chiron watched.

He eyes widened at the taste. When he had seen the drink, he had expected something sweet. Something like the lemonade Sanji would make when it was hot out and there was nothing to fight. He hadn’t expected….. Meat. Yet it tasted like meat, Sanji’s meat more specifically. It filled him with warmth and longing and love for his nakama. And yet if he concentrated enough, he thought he could taste the aroma of the crocodile meat he would roast with his brothers…

Within seconds the drink was gone and he stared down at the cup in numb shock. It had felt so warm… but the ice within the cup was still fresh, clinking around merrily. Setting down the cup on the table, he realized that the injuries on his hands were gone and so was the pain. He felt quite rested, as if all the pain and troubles had melted away.

“What was that?” Luffy asked finally, looking up at Chiron, who had a mildly amused look.

“That was ambrosia, the drink of the gods. As a demigod, you are able to consume ambrosia and nectar to heal your wounds. However, if you consume too much, you will self-combust. Therefore, you must be careful with how often and how much you eat it. We only consume it in emergencies or in the case of mildly severe injuries, such as yours.” Chiron nodded at Luffy’s hands, which Luffy inspected with awe.

“That’s so cool,” he breathed out, eyes wide. “It’s a mystery drink!” He made a mental note to tell Sanji that a drink that tastes like meat _did_ exist. Although he wasn’t sure if it would count.

The centaur chuckled lightly. “Come now, Luffy,” he said, backing up a little bit. “You may sleep in the Big House for tonight. Tomorrow I shall give you a tour of the camp and place you in the Hermes cabin.”

“Why? Am I a Hermes kid?” Luffy asked, head tilted.

“No, but it is where new campers are situated until they are claimed. It is too late to wake them up now, so you will rest here.”

Luffy just shrugged and stood up, stretching. “Sure, where to?”

Chiron led the green-eyed boy down to what seemed like a small infirmary, where multiple cots were lined up against the wall. “I’m afraid this is the only free beds we have currently. I’ll wake you in the morning,” he said with a kind smile. “Sweet dreams.” And with that, the centaur trotted away, leaving Luffy alone in the room.

With a shrug, Luffy slipped into one of the cots, sighing as he tugged the blanket on himself, turning to the side to gaze through the window. The faint moonlight was cast through the window, glowing on the wooden floor. Luffy blinked. It seemed that the storm was over already. Or perhaps it had just moved away? Luffy snorted at the thought and fell asleep to dreams of his navigator chasing away storms with her practiced ease.

 

The sunlight shone on his face as he awoke with a light groan, sitting up as he rubbed sleep away from his eyes. A quick glance at the clock told him it was around eight in the morning. Huh. He usually woke up earlier. He must’ve been more tired than he thought.

As Luffy slipped off the cot, a small stack of clothes at the foot of the bed caught his eye. It was really hard to miss, considering how it was bright orange. Curious, he held up the clothes. A bright orange shirt with the pointy letters “CHB” and a pair of denim shorts that came up above the knee. Huh.

His haki flared lightly and Luffy looked up as the head of Chiron popped through the door. Seeing Luffy awake, he gave a small smile, walking in a little bit.

“Ah, I see you’re awake. Hurry and dress and we shall have some breakfast. Afterward I’ll give you a small tour and ask some questions I’ve been meaning to ask.” With that he left, leaving Luffy alone once more.

It didn’t take long for Luffy to change, his speed only heightened at the prospect of food. He all but flew into the living room from last night, eyes wide and bright. “Food?”

Chiron looked up, gesturing to the stack of sandwiches on the table. Luffy sped over, quickly grabbing some to chomp down.

In record time the food was gone, and Chiron stood a little shocked. Luffy burped a little, flashing a large smile. “Thanks for the food!”

“Er- no problem, young one,” Chiron cleared his throat a bit, turning to the door. “Now if you please follow me.”

The centaur led the bouncing boy out of the house and towards the center of the camp. As they left, Luffy looked back at the house. It was a lot larger than he had realized in the dark. It stood at four stories tall, sky blue with white trim. As his eyes scanned the building, he caught sight of a curtain fluttering. With a frown, he sent out his haki, trying to sense what was there. What he got back was a sense of energy, but not quite the living type. It seemed vaguely similar to Brook, except more… sinister? Creepy? Not quite right.

“Something’s there,” Luffy muttered, catching the attention of the white centaur.

“Hm?”

He pointed up at where he saw the fluttering curtain. “There. Something’s there. It’s…” he paused, tilting his head. “Weird.”

Chiron shot him a strange look then up at where Luffy pointed. “That… is simply the attic. No living thing is up there.” With that he began to walk again, turning to call to Luffy. “Let’s hurry, shall we?”

Luffy simply shrugged and jogged after him.

The camp was interesting. There were fields from which strawberries grew and campers harvested them. A satyr stood nearby, playing soft music from his windpipes, and Luffy watched with interested as the bugs began to flee in every direction. He wondered if Brook could do that.

Next up came the forest, which Luffy itched to explore. Noticing his eagerness, Chiron placed a hand on the rubber boy’s shoulder.

“I suggest you do not spend too much time in the forest outside of training,” he said, an eyebrow raised. “It is well stocked and I would rather not have you injured again.”

“Well stocked?” Luffy asked. “With what?”

“Hmm, you’ll see at Capture the Flag. That’s this Friday night. Come along now, Luffy.” With that, the centaur trotted off towards other things that caught the attention of the easily interested boy.

They based by archery range (Luffy bet that Usopp would love that), the canoeing lake (he himself felt a tug to that), the stables (Chiron didn’t like them that much), the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater (Brook would love that), and the arena where Chiron stated they held sword and spear fights (Zoro would love that). Afterwards, he was led to the mess hall. Luffy decided that that would probably be one of his favorite places.

Next up were the twelve cabins, which were lined up in a U-shape by the lake. Each of the cabins looked quite bizarre, and he loved it. “A cabin for each of the Olympians,” was Chiron’s brief explanation. Each cabin had large bronze numbers, odds on the left and evens to the right. Each cabin had their own quirks, decorated with tidbits that Luffy guessed corresponded with each Olympian. A large hearth sat in the middle of it all.

He could’ve sworn there was a small girl by the fireplace, who waved and disappeared before Luffy could react.

The centaur led Luffy to the last cabin on the left, cabin eleven. He knocked at the doorway as Luffy peeked in.

To put it simply, it was crowded. Kids were all over the floor and on the beds as well. It was hard to find a spot on the floor that wasn’t occupied. The exterior reflected the inside. It looked old, like it desperately needed a repainting. A staff with two snakes adorned the doorway. Luffy tilted his head. The medicine staff… thingy.

A teen that looked a bit older than the rest stepped forward while the rest bowed respectfully to Chiron, who was too tall to enter the cabin. “Hey, Chiron, what’s up?”

“New camper,” Chiron responded, gently pushing Luffy forward, who waved at the cabin. Some waved back.

“Regular or undetermined?”

“Undetermined.”

Luffy heard a couple groans from the back.

“Well, Luffy, this is Luke. He’s the counselor of the Hermes cabin. Luke, this is Luffy Jackson.” Chiron smiled warmly.

“Nice to meet you Luffy,” Luke greeted, throwing a cheerful smile. “You can have that spot in the corner.” He pointed to a small spare spot on the floor and Luffy nodded in response. It vaguely reminded him of the bandits’ hideout.

“Now, I must leave. I know that a couple of our campers will be returning from a quest fairly soon. Luffy, if you could follow me, I have a couple questions.” Chiron turned, looking back at Luffy who simply nodded and trailed behind the centaur.

They were a couple yards from the cabins when Chiron spoke. “I understand that you said you, ah, beat up the monsters you’ve encountered?”

Luffy nodded. “Yup!”

Chiron frowned. “Care to… elaborate?”

“I just, ya know, punched them.” Luffy frowned. “Simple.”

The centaur grimaced a bit and Luffy tilted his head. It was simple. He had simply punched them. Sure, he had used haki and his devil fruit abilities, but in base it was simply a punch. Nothing extra.

“Luffy, there are a couple ways to… kill monsters, to put it simply. Monsters do not simply ‘die’. They are without souls. When they are killed, they are sent to the Underworld. After a while, their essence can return to the living world. They cannot be killed by normal means. There are a couple metals that can cut through the essence of monsters. Those are Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold, and Stygian Iron.” He turned to Luffy, eyes stern. “As you can see, I cannot quite grasp how you were simply able to ‘punch’ these beings without the aid of such metals. Although there seems to be a couple nowadays who seem to possess the ability to do so…” He trailed off into a murmur, eyes far off.

Luffy cocked his head. “Well, I did this.” And with those words he raised his fist, covering it in haki. Chiron stared wide-eyed.

“I… _have_ seen such an ability before….. But it hasn’t been quite explained to me. If you would..?”

Luffy froze. He had seen haki before? He looked up sharply. “Chiron, where did you see this from?”

Chiron seemed taken aback. “A couple campers from before seemed capable of using this ability. But I have no idea what it is.”

With a deep breath, Luffy looked down at his fist, watching as the haki faded away. “It’s my willpower,” he said softly.

“Willpower?” Chiron muttered, looking up. “Ah, we’ve reached the Big House. You have yet to meet Mr. D, correct? He is the camp director. Please be polite. He can be, ah, a bit grumpy.”

Looking up, Luffy could see the stout and grumpy looking form of a man, sitting on the porch, a soda can by his side. His presence was strange, not human. Luffy frowned. If he had to guess, the man was some sort of supernatural being like Chiron.

“Mr. D,” Chiron greeted politely with a nod. “This is Luffy Jackson, a new camper. His godly parent is still unknown.”

Mr. D studied Luffy quietly, who fidgeted slightly but met the older man’s gaze evenly.

“You’re not human either,” Luffy commented softly.

Mr. D raised a brow and Luffy could tell he was mildly surprised. “Sharp senses, kid.”

Luffy flashed a bright grin. “Thanks!”

The camp director grumbled, popping open the soda can and downing it. Chiron sighed, walking over to his wheelchair that sat in the corner. Backing up (Luffy imagined the beeping of a truck), Chiron slowly lowered himself into a compartment that had popped open at the seat of the chair. Although the chair was minuscule compared to the horse torso, everything fit perfectly, a blanket covering his waist and fake legs popping out.

Luffy’s eyes shined with awe. “Mystery chair!”

Mr. D snorted.

Chiron merely chuckled. “I’m waiting for a couple of campers to return from a quest. You may leave if you wish” He paused, looking behind Luffy. “Oh, there they are. They’re early. I see they’ve brought another new camper. Hm. Or you may meet them if you wish.”

The sound of bickering hit his ears and Luffy froze. It sounded so familiar….. Along with it were the sound of soft laughter and a panicked voice pleading the duo to quit fighting.

“Luffy, are you alright? You’re a bit pale.”

The rubber boy whirled around, eyes wide.

In front of him stood three males and a female. One was blonde, another with curly hair, one with hair the color of freshly cut grass, and the female was raven-haired, much like his own. Upon seeing Luffy, they too froze, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“L- _LUFFY?!?!”_

Chiron was very bewildered.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Consistent posting schedule, what's that?  
> I'll try to post at least once a week but there's also a chance I might forget...hm

Bewildered was an understatement.

Chiron watched as Luffy flung himself at the group, sobbing uncontrollably. And if he didn’t know the three campers of his as well as he did, he would’ve said he saw tears in their eyes as well. (He was wrong.)

The curly haired boy was definitely crying. 

It was a bit baffling. Perhaps they were old friends. Although from Chiron’s knowledge, they were from two completely different areas of the country. And were they speaking in some foreign language? He had heard the strange language from the older three before but it felt strange hearing it from the younger two. It sounded akin to the ocean, soft and breathy yet with the hint of harsh sounds. It was a beautiful language, but none that he had ever heard. He would need to ask them for more information later. 

These new campers of his were strange, quite strange indeed. The eldest, the girl was a demigod of a Muse, to the surprise of everyone save herself and her two male companions. The Muse of History, Clio. Due to the lack of cabins for her godly parent she had stayed in the Hermes Cabin. This new child had the strange ability to disperse monster essence with her bare hands. The ability to sprout limbs from nowhere was strange as well. But due to the fact that little to nothing was known about children of Clio, it was left largely unquestioned. The green haired male was also an anomaly. The green of his hair was natural, as grumpily explained by the boy, and he wielded three swords. He had asked for katanas to be specially made for him, which was provided by the Hephaestus Cabin. Three swords, one in each hand and another in his mouth. He was quite capable of using two or one at a time, slicing down his enemies with ease. A son of Ares, he suited the part, violent when needed to be and rather calm-headed when coming up with plans. He was considered one of the strongest in the camp, rivaled only by the blonde. The blonde fought with his legs in a similar fashion to the girl, although his legs could catch on fire, which had caused the panic of many a camper when he had first done so. A naturally swirly brow curled above his piercing blue eyes which glared at most people yet turned to jelly whenever they met the eyes of a female. Placed in the Aphrodite cabin, he was fiercely protective of his sisters, kicking away those he deemed unworthy. What he meant by that, Chiron had no clue. The blonde had somehow gained the attention and blessing of Hestia and those around him would feel safe and protected. It went well with his rather majestic gift of the culinary arts, cooking up feasts no other chef could replicate. The green haired boy and him would fight constantly, much to the amusement of the girl and the panic of other campers. The three were rather inseparable, even with their contrasting personalities. They were serious, grim, and dangerous. It was why Chiron thought he had seen wrong at the sight of a few shining tears at the corner of their eyes. Deciding to give the small group their privacy he turned away, offering to play pinochle with Mr. D.

 

Luffy was a mess. Tears streamed down his cheeks as well as snot as he bawled, clinging to his long-lost crew. The ache of his heart was slowly healing, filling with the presence of his crew and their love. He could feel the arms of theirs wrapping around him as well, and although no one was mentioning it, they were crying as well. 

Stepping back a little, he examined his crew, well, half of it at least, eager to drink in every detail of their appearance. 

They appeared younger than before, that much was certain. His archaeologist, Robin, looked around the age of eighteen, bangs similar to pre-time skip but the length similar to after. Her orange camp shirt was tied to the side, hitching up a bit. She wore denim shorts and sneakers and although young looked very much like the dangerous, capable archaeologist of the Pirate King. Zoro was Zoro. Fiercely loyal and faithful. He looked like a smaller, younger version of how he looked when Luffy first met him. (Although he seemed to have the habit of keeping his left eye closed like before.) Buff as usual with his customary three katanas sitting faithfully by his side, he looked stern as ever, even while wearing an orange camp tank top with a white, short-sleeved dress shirt on top unbuttoned with his green haramaki and black pants and shoes. The three gold earrings of before dangled on his ear, catching the sunlight and throwing it every which way. Luffy marveled at how much he looked like his past self. Sanji, his loyal cook, stood by his swordsman, tall as ever. Similarly to Zoro, he wore a camp shirt underneath an unbuttoned dress shirt, although his was long-sleeved and was rolled up to his elbows. Dress pants and shoes of his customary black were what he wore, and his hair was parted to the side, exposing his left eye. It seemed he had kept the hairstyle of post time skip. A lollipop rather than a cigarette rolled around his teeth, and Luffy guessed that someone like Chiron had stopped him from ruining his lungs early. (He would be correct.) The two heavy-hitting fighters looked about fourteen. Last but most definitely not least, his trusty sniper, Usopp. If he had to guess, Usopp was the same as himself, twelve. The sniper, being new to the camp, was not dressed in a camp shirt. He wore a dark green shirt with denim overalls and sap green sneakers. His hair was longer, similar to post time skip and was tied up. Strangely enough, the sunlight would catch on the reflection of Usopp's dark hair and give off a golden sheen. 

“ _ Usopp, your hair looks golden _ ,” Luffy remarked, sniffing slightly. 

“ _ Huh _ ?” Usopp's eyes rolled up, trying to catch a glimpse of his own hair. “ _ Yeah, it does that in the sun. Dunno why, though _ .”

Through the comforting presence of each other, the ragtag group of reincarnated pirates slipped back into their language of the sea, conversing normally as if they had spoken it continuously for the past couple of years. Relief and comfort that they had missed for years came flooding back, and it was clear to outsiders that the group shared a bond no other group possessed. This was a group of pirates, people who sailed the seas in pursuit of adventure and had risked their lives for freedom and happiness. Although they were missing a couple of members. 

“ _ Oi, Captain, _ ” Zoro said, gruff voice higher pitched than before. “ _ Chopper's here, too. He's a satyr, a half-goat man. He's on a mission to recruit two new demigods but he should be back soon.”  _

The Captain nodded with a firm smile and the fire that they so loved burning in his eyes. “ _ Yosh! We can wait for him, then we can go look for Nami, Franky, Brook, and Jimbei. And we can see if anyone else is here!”  _ His expression grew serious. “ _ And I need to find my Mama. _ ”

The crew perked up, eyebrows high.

“ _ Your mom?” _ Sanji asked, tilting his head a bit. “ _ What happened? _ ”

“ _ Are they perhaps someone like your parents in our past life? _ ” Robin chuckled, a hand covering her mouth. 

Quickly, Luffy explained the situation, hand resting on his head out of habit. By the end of the explanation, the expressions of the crew grew firm, understanding the task set in front of them. 

“ _ To think some horrible monster would attack a woman like that!”  _ The cook scoffed, rolling a lollipop around in his mouth. “ _ I should teach it some manners _ .” 

The swordsman looked up, eyes scanning the camp. “ _ There's pretty good training grounds here. We can train more and when we think we're strong enough, we can head out.” _

Luffy sighed, looping an arm around Zoro's and Usopp's. “ _ Yeah, I need training. There's no jungle to train in here! I'm out of practice.”  _ He pouted, lower lip sticking out comically. 

Usopp cleared his throat lightly, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his neck. “ _ I hate to admit it but….. I'm really out of practice. My aim's still good but everything else…… I still haven't been able to re-unlock my armament haki yet!” _

Luffy gaped at his sniper, waddling forward as Zoro began to pull them along. “ _ Really? Mine just came at the same time!” _

“ _ Yeah, but you're the most attuned to your haki! I wasn't the best with armament, remember?”  _ Usopp sighed. 

Chattering, the crew of five made their way to the fighting arena, ignoring the surprised stares thrown their way by campers taken aback by their friendship and foreign language. Inside, they were met with a surprised Luke Castellan and his little group of campers, all wielding swords. Straw dummies were in front of all the campers save Luke, and some of the campers were struggling to remove blades stuck in the straw where they had swung. 

“Zoro!” Luke greeted, an easy grin on his face. “You and your group are back quickly. How was the quest?” 

“Went well. As always,” Zoro replied smoothly, not missing how Luke has twitched at the mention of the quest. “Found a friend.” He gestured towards Usopp, who was clinging off of Luffy. “And my captain.” He gestured towards Luffy, who beamed up at the blonde counselor and waved. 

“Hi, Lucy!”

The crew snorted. 

“...Captain?” Luke asked, confusion clear on his face. “Uh- and it's Luke…” 

“Yeah. My captain. We're gonna spar now.” The swordsman dragged his two crewmates towards the center of the arena, looking down at the giggly captain and the nervous sniper. “Let's see how far you are, hm?”

Luffy jumped up, chuckling as Usopp scampered away, safely standing next to Sanji and Robin, who were by the bleachers. “Shishishi… Don't go easy on me!” 

“Whoa whoa whoa, Roronoa, you're going to spar with  _ him? _ He's still new, and he doesn't even have a weapon with him?” Luke intervened, his little class of campers staring wide-eyed with curiosity from behind him. 

“I don't need a weapon!” Luffy grinned, backing a fair distance from the green-haired swordsman simply grinned and pulled a katana halfway from its sheath. 

“You heard the man. You should probably back up.”

“Wha-! Roronoa, you can't possibly think I'm going to let you spar with a newbie, you'll kill him or something!” Luke bristled. “You're not the demon of the camp for nothing.” 

“MOVE LUCY!” Came the high pitched shriek and Luke jumped to the side with a yelp as Zoro cursed and unsheathed his sword, blocking the rubbery punch. Luffy, having gotten bored of the chatter, had made the first move. His hand, not yet coated with haki, held its ground against Zoro's strangely bronze katanas. “Nice swords, Zoro!” 

“Oi oi oi,  _ Luffy _ ,” Zoro said, a smirk curling onto his lips. “Don't be so impatient, I'm not going anywhere.” With a heave, the two separated, both pushed back by the impact. 

The clash of metal and the smacks of flesh rang throughout the arena as the two moved at superhuman speed, Zoro with still one katana and Luffy not yet using haki nor his devil fruit ability. Their attacks were a blur, and the floor creaked with the strain. Amidst the attacks, Luke made his way to the rest of the crew, who were watching with mild interest. 

“Shitty captain and swordsman better not break the dam arena,” the blonde cook commented, nonchalantly examining his shoes rather than watching the fight. 

“Fufufu, I wouldn't be surprised if they do. You and Zoro have broken the building many times before, no? Before they had to spar outside.” 

Usopp sighed. “I think I'm  _ really _ behind…. And I need to find a way to rebuild my attacks too…. Ugh…” He slumped forward in defeat. 

Luke frowned, glancing over at them before attentively watching the spar. Even with his trained eye, it was difficult to follow the moves. “Is…. Is this normal?” be asked, slightly fearing the answer. 

“Nah.” came the answer from Sanji and Luke inwardly sighed. Of course this isn't normal, normal humans and demigods both couldn't manage this. “Nah, they're holding back. Haven't seen them like this since-” Sanji paused, not noticing how Luke froze, wide-eyed. “Since long, long ago. Oh! Nice punch, Luffy, right on the face.” He chuckled evilly. 

Luke opened and closed his mouth, looking rather like a shocked fish. “Wha- they're holding back-? H-how are you following what they're doing?”

The two boys by his side shot him a confused glance, heads tilting in unison as if genuinely confused by the question. “What, you can't?” Even their voices were in unison. Robin chuckled behind them. 

The Hermes counselor simply stood, staring at the three beside him. Of course, he had known that Zoro, Sanji, and Robin were insanely powerful and highly mysterious, speaking in what seemed to be like code and a language he couldn't recognize at all. They were the top three, the best of the best, the strongest campers the camp had to offer. The little satyr, Chopper hung around with them as well, seeming to effortlessly blend into their group. He was no weakling as well. The four were in a world of their own. So for two seemingly random strangers to pop and promptly slip into this circle with no hindrance, rather it seemed that the group  _ welcomed _ them, was quite mind-boggling indeed. This new Luffy kid was stronger than any newbie Luke had seen, seeming to easily keep up with Zoro, the demonic swordsman. Luke had no idea what strength the nervous newbie with curly hair possessed. If he was alone, Luke would've pinned him as a more charismatic speaker, someone who would rather talk than fight. But seeing him interact comfortably with the group, he had his doubts on that opinion. 

The spar had finished in this midst of Luke’s thoughts, ending at a standstill. Neither fighter appeared too heavily injured or tired, just sporting a couple bruises or cuts, although the same couldn't be said for the floor, where cracks and slashes from the attacks marked the ground. The two were in good spirits, the smaller and younger boy slinging an arm around the taller, green-haired teen. 

“Shishishi, Zoro's still strong!” 

“Of course. You're still pretty good too, although nowhere near your past strength.”

“Yosh, gotta train!”

“Ah… what kind of training stuff does this place have?” piped up Usopp. He and the others had walked over to meet the two boys in the middle. 

“This place has some strange classes, like spear-throwing, sword fighting, archery, and we can't forget the forest…” Sanji answered, voice trailing off as the group made their way out of the arena, leaving Luke and his class stunned at the casual display of power. 

Pulling himself together, Luke glanced over at the marred floor with a sigh. “Someone let Chiron know that the arena floor is broken again.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly the strawhats are crazy strong.......  
> .......they're going to fuck up so many different things
> 
> good god help this world


	8. Chapter 8

“Ne, Robin, what happens when you go into the water or the sea?” Luffy asked in the language of the Blues, swinging his legs over the wooden platform. They were sitting by the lake, enjoying the sun and nature around them. For once they felt like taking a break, sitting and enjoying each other's company rather than beating each other up in their brutal, destructive form of training. It was effective, though, and although it had been about a couple days since they had arrived at camp, their strength and skills rose exponentially, reviving past moves and techniques. 

“Well, captain, it feels like every other time I go into the water. Draining and exhausting.” Robin rose a brow, looking up from her book on Greek mythology. “Why?” 

With a hum, Luffy stood up, swaying side to side before looking at his crew with a grin. The crew could feel a small sense of dread trickle down their spines, knowing the mischievous and wild acts that came with that smile.

“Watch this.”

And with that, Luffy leapt into the lake with a loud whoop, leaving his crew to shoot to their feet with a panicked yell. 

“LUFFY!”

Sanji and Zoro both dashed forward, ready to leap in, when-

“Shishishi! Your expressions were hilarious!” 

Luffy floated in the middle of the lake, head peeking out of the crystal waters, sea-green eyes alight with mirth. With smooth strokes he swam over to the small “dock”, grabbing onto the edge and heaving himself up with a small “yosh!”, standing in front of the two flabbergasted boys. Water seemed to cling to him a little, giving the rubber boy the appearance of coming out of slime before shaking it off, leaving him completely and utterly dry.

“Ta-da~!” His arms outspread, Luffy grinned his signature smile, eyes dancing between each of his shocked crewmembers. 

“ **_WHAT?_ ** ” The boys shrieked, Robin simply watching with overly huge eyes. Luffy wasn't sure if he had ever seen Robin look so surprised. 

“Shishishi, water doesn't affect me anymore! I don't know why, but swimming's  _ reeeeally  _ fun, so I don't care.” Luffy explained with a proud huff. The sea, which he loved, loved him back in this life, and he was very, very glad to have this change. 

Zoro and Sanji glanced at each other and nodded, determined looks in their eyes. Walking forward, they each grabbed one side of Luffy's cheeks and began to stretch as far as they could, eyes narrowing as the cheeks stretch as they usually did. Once they had stretched to as far as their arms would go, the two let go, watching as the flesh snapped back and pushed Luffy's head to bounce back and forth from the impact. With a deep breath, Zoro raised a sheathed sword and Sanji raised a leg- bringing the now haki-infused weapons upon their idiotic captain's head. With a screech of pain, Luffy was bounced back into the waters, holding his head in pain. 

“OW!” Luffy grumbled, rubbing his head as he watched the two retreat with annoyed grumbles.

“Shitty Captain, scaring us like that-!”

“Could've warned us-”

Aforementioned captain simply grinned, feeling the pain slowly reside. Ah, the two stoic monsters with hearts too big for them to deal with. Ruthless on the field, yet caring deeply for their crew, it was amusing to watch them try to hide their soft sides. Robin chuckled to the side, obviously having the same thoughts. 

“Maaaaan, I don't get it,” Usopp piped up, rubbing the back of his head. “You're a devil fruit user but you can still swim? That doesn't make sense!” 

Robin nodded in agreement. “I agree, it is quite odd. However, the rules of this world are different from our world. Perhaps Luffy's godly parent has something to do with this? It wouldn't surprise me if he was the son of a water-based god, say, such as Poseidon.” 

Scurrying forward to sit closer to the wooden platform where Luffy had dragged himself out, the sniper sighed, watching at how the water clung to the rubber boy. “Yeah, maybe. The water keeps attaching onto him. And with Luffy, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the son of some big-shot god.” 

“Well,” Luffy started, sitting by Usopp and watching as Sanji and Zoro bickered, “I don't know who my dad is, and I don't really care.” 

“Like your previous father, Dragon, right?” Robin gave a knowing smile. 

“Yeah! I don't mind if he's here or not. But I know Mama misses him.” Luffy simply shrugged.

Usopp sighed, flopping down onto the grass and watching the birds fly through the sky. “Man, I’m curious as to who my dad is.” He frowned. “I miss my real dad….” 

A ray of sunlight seemed to mysteriously shine onto his golden brown eyes, and the sniper cursed, rubbing them to rid himself of the pain. 

Luffy flopped by Usopp, laughing as he did so. “This place is cool! Seems kinda boring, though.” He scrunched his nose up, sitting up to look at the others. “When's Chopper coming back?” 

Zoro walked over and sat by Luffy, knocking on his captain's head with a sheathed sword. “It wasn't supposed to be a hard mission, he's supposed to rescue two demigods that were living in the same area. Most of his missions take about a week or so.” 

Sanji sat by Usopp, resting his head on his hand, arm resting on a raised knee. “Chiron said he left a day or two before we came back, so he should be back before…..” The blonde squinted, quickly calculating. “Today's Tuesday, right? He should be here tomorrow or Thursday. Maybe Friday if it's a harder job? Chopper'll call if it's something big.” As he spoke, his other hand softly bounced on the poofy ponytail of Usopp, who didn't seem to mind. 

Luffy flopped back onto the ground with a groan. “I  _ miss  _ himmmmm. I wanna go find everyone else, too.” 

Robin simply chuckled. “We all do, Captain. We must have just a little more patience. After all, we waited years to meet once more, surely we can wait another day before beginning our search.”

The raven-haired boy pouted. There was truth in her words, but it didn't mean he wouldn't feel  _ frustrated _ . So close and yet so far. It was annoying. 

His thoughts wandered to the camp. The camp was, in short, fascinating. With the various classes to train in different areas of expertise, it taught the campers to be versatile and strong. One of the training sites was a hill of lava, where campers had to jump and dodge to avoid getting burnt. Luffy had taken one dark look at the hill and promptly declared that lava was no challenge to him and ran to complete the obstacle. He finished in record time, and he vowed to beat that record as much as he could.

Of course, campers could choose to specialize in certain areas, but a good variety of classes were mandatory to take while on the campus. Although certain classes didn't make sense, like the crafts class and canoeing class. They didn't really help to fight. Robin had calmly explained to him that they were probably to relax rather than focus on fighting all the time, considering how fighting wasn't all that common. The camp was well guarded by the twisted tree on the top of Half-Blood hill, which cast a large boundary around camp which deterred and forbade monsters from entering. Therefore fighting was reserved for the rare quest and sparring, in the sparring arena or in the forest. Luffy so dearly wanted to fight the monsters that he could sense in the forest, but his crew held him back, telling him “not yet”. Whatever that meant. 

So although the various training techniques were interesting, they were weak and rather limiting. They had a certain level of difficulty that the crew easily surpassed, and Luffy himself wasn't interested in learning any new skills such as archery and sword-fighting. That was what Usopp and Zoro specialized in. They covered his weaknesses, and he covered theirs. Luffy trusted them, and found no use in training in those skills, much to the chagrin of Chiron. 

A soft snore caused the attention of the crew to turn towards its source, a soft smile spreading on their lips as they watched. 

“It's just like Luffy to fall asleep like that.”

  
  


“Oh my  _ gods _ , did you guys camp out here? How did we not see you?”

The crew shuffled, Robin, Zoro, and Sanji cracking open an eye to peek at the voice as Usopp and Luffy snored on. 

The source of the voice, a camper that they recognized as an Apollo child, name slipping their minds, stood with wide eyes and an open mouth. Behind him, the crew could see the sun slowly creeping up the sky, signaling the morning. It was around six or so.

Zoro yawned, closing his eyes once more and settling down back into a half-sleep. “Don’t know, don’t care,” he muttered.

“How-how were you not cold? And it’s against the rules to be out past curfew, you know that!” The boy seemed mildly panicked, eyes darting around the relaxed figures of the Strawhat crew. “You’ll get sick!”

“It wasn’t cold,” Sanji replied simply, gazing coolly at the boy. Robin chuckled near him. “And besides, we don’t really follow rules, you know.” 

The boy stiffened. “Yeah but- It’s  _ dangerous _ .”

His argument wilted at the face of the three unimpressed campers, who were known to be the strongest in the camp. “Nevermind.”

The blonde sighed, watching the boy trudge away, slipping back into the language of the Blues. “How  _ did _ they miss us? Not like we would’ve listened or anything, but it’s not exactly like them to miss something this big. And it really  _ wasn’t _ cold…”

“Perhaps….” Robin started, eyes trailing up to the hill. “It was the Twisted Tree.”

With a look of surprised, Sanji turned to stare at the tree as well. “The  _ tree _ ? How?”

“The tree’s a mystery tree,” came the voice of their captain, whose eyes were half-lidded and watching the tree as well. “When I touched it, it felt like how it feels like when I go into the ocean, except warmer.”

The crew, now including Usopp, who had woken to the sound of their conversation, stared at Luffy, who shrugged.

“I feel energized instead of drained when I go into the water now. But the tree felt warm, like someone hugging me,” Luffy said with another shrug. “It’s a mystery tree!”

The others raised their brows in shock as Robin hummed, tapping her chin in thought. “That tree seems rather sentient, don’t you think? From rumors I’ve heard, the tree catches on fire every once in a while, although the tree itself and surrounding vegetation is not harmed.”

Zoro perked up at this. “That happened when I first joined. It felt like it was…. Celebrating something.” At this, he frowned. “I wonder what.”

“The tree feels human.” The rubber boy hummed, examining the tree. “Like two humans. And it feels so familiar, but…….” He huffed in annoyance. “I can’t completely tell cause there’s another strong presence with it that’s masking the details. Kinda feels like lightning and storms. The tree is a really strong presence, though.”

Sanji clicked his tongue. “Now that you mention it, the aura seems stronger than before. It was a little weaker than this before we left on our quest. We should ask Chiron later.”

The crew nodded in agreement. 

“Yosh!” Luffy shot up with a grin, hand instinctively on his head. “Breakfast time! Sanji, food!”

“Yeesh, is food all you think about?” The cook joked, getting up as well.

Luffy simply flashed a D-shaped smile filled with joy and love. “Nope, I think about my nakama, too!”

The crew felt a rush of love for this charismatic and immature captain of theirs.

“Oh you smooth bastard,” Usopp replied, narrowing his eyes.

The rest laughed, following their cook down to the mess area to satisfy their hunger. 

 

The next couple of hours passed without much, the crew training as usual and the rest of the campers watching in wide-mouthed awe. Chiron was nearby, watching as the crew flung each other with free laughter, not seeming to care that their spars seemed like a full-on brawl. The centaur had to yet again pause in wonder at the brute strength the group presented, each individual seemingly capable of defeating everyone else. Even the two newest members, who looked rather young and much more immature than the other three seemed to possess immense skill. In fact, Luffy, the one seemed the most immature and childish, seemed to be able to tower in strength, to the point where Chiron had to admit he was  _ stronger _ than the strongest of the camp. Although it took struggle, the raven-haired boy seemed to win more spars with the swordsman and cook than lose them, leaving the rest of the camp other than the crew in shocked silence. Currently, the blonde was in a spar with the raven, flashes of fire surrounded them and attacks too fast for most people to follow.

Luke stood by the old centaur, eyes narrowed in concentration in an attempt to follow the action. “They’re ridiculously strong…. I don’t understand how.” His eyes narrowed further, this time in frustration. “I’ve trained for  _ years _ , and yet-”

The centaur looked down at the sandy-haired teen with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry, my boy. Believe me when I say that you  _ are  _ strong. However, these children are a huge outlier. I have never seen such raw strength in such young children. They are like the half-bloods that were here before.”

“You mean Thatch, Izo, and Koala?” Luke glanced up, watching Chiron’s nod. “I’ve only seen them for a little less than a year, but they seem weaker than these guys. Although they were strong as well.”

“That is true. However, there are other similarities. Their strange language and techniques…. It seems too much to be a coincidence.”

“Oh, the Whitebeard Pirates and Koala?”

The centaur and sandy-haired teen started slightly, eyes flicking over to where the swordsman stood beside them. Neither of them had noticed the boy sliding over and were surprised at the silent movement. Chiron nodded slowly.

“Yes, they did seem to refer to themselves as such… How do you know this information?”

Zoro simply shrugged. “They’re our allies.”

“Allies?” Luke questioned with a suspicious glance. 

The swordsman simply hummed an affirmative before leaping forward to spar with the blonde as the spar came to a close with the raven as the victory.

“A strange group,” Luke commented.

“A strange group indeed,” Chiron agreed with a nod.

Then suddenly, the entire group froze, heads turning to watch the tree. The spectators turned towards the tree as well, curious as to what would have caused the crew’s pause. The moment of silence weighed heavily in the air as nothing happened spare the widening of the eyes of the crew. 

“THEY’RE HERE!” came the shriek of the young raven, a grin stretching his face in an almost impossible way. Everyone else in the crew seemed to grin widely as well, the five beginning to rush towards the hill, leaving their audience in confused silence.

“Well, I suppose I must check what is happening,” Chiron hummed, beginning to canter towards the hill as well. The curious campers decided to trail along.

Luffy was ecstatic. The five of them had frozen as soon as the aura of their furry friend had hit them, bright with joy and excitement. Grins had grown wider as they recognized the two, no, three auras that followed along, each bright with their own excitement.  _ Nakama _ was all that echoed through his mind as he began to run, knowing that his crewmates would follow. He could feel their excitement as well, even though some were better at hiding it than others. Bursting to the top of the hill with barely contained energy, he beamed down at his newly arrived crewmates.

“LUFFY! USOPP! YOU’RE HERE, TOO!” came the shriek of Chopper in their native language. “I FOUND NAMI AND FRANKY!”

Surely enough, behind the reindeer ran a girl with flaming orange hair and a boy with brilliant blue. Luffy could feel his eyes watering at the sight, joy bursting through his heart.

“AND GUESS WHO ELSE I FOUND!”

Behind Chopper ran a small girl, eyes wide and bright with happiness, holding onto Nami’s hand to keep up. Luffy and the others gasped in shock and surprise, not expecting this new development.

“O-TAMA????”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh i think i have a lot of plot holes in what i have planned but it's ok  
> i hope
> 
> i'm new to this writing this so i hope this project is ok and something you guys enjoy!  
> hopefully any plot-related questions you have will be answered in due time
> 
>  
> 
> good god how does one write


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A proper writing schedule? lmao what's that

“O-TAMA????”

“LUFFY NII-SAN!” O-Tama shrieked, dashing forward to throw herself into Luffy’s wide open arms. The two giggled, falling backward onto the grass as the crew watched affectionately. 

The small girl looked to be about five or so, wearing a casual white t-shirt with a pink flower with a yellow center and a purple skirt that went above her knees. Black leggings went down her calves, and purple sneakers adorned her feet. All in all, it was strange to see the little Wano girl in modern clothing outside of the traditional Wano attire. She looked healthier, with rosy cheeks and shiny black hair pulled back into a small ponytail. Gone was the thin limbs of the starving child who struggled to survive in the ruined economy of Wano. Here was a child who didn't have to suffer through the pain of starvation and poison. Even though she had gotten better in her past life, those tragedies had hit during her growing period and had lasting effects. 

Beside the crew, the twisted tree burst into flames. The less stoic members of the crew screeched and jumped back. The more stoic members merely stepped away, albeit with wide eyes. 

“AAA! THE TREE'S ON FIRE! SOMEONE CALL THE DOCTOR!” Chopper cried, hands (wait what?) In his hair (wait a minute). 

“YOU  _ ARE _ THE DOCTOR!” The rest of the crew yelled. 

“Calm down, the tree is fine.” There was a collective crack of bones as multiple heads snapped to stare at the newly arrived Chiron and Luke with wide eyes. 

“It is a strange occurrence that happens every once in a while. The tree catches on fire but nothing burns; rather, it only gives off heat and light,” the centaur explained, nodding to the tree. “The exact reason of why is unknown.” 

Several eyes widened. 

“Like what Zoro said!” Usopp gasps, slamming a fist onto an open palm as he remembered the swordsman’s story. 

Said swordsman blinks then nods. “Yeah, it's the same thing.” 

“Shishishi.” Shining stars could be seen in Luffy's wide eyes, grin stretched across his face. “Mystery tree!” 

“Ooooh,” gasps the small doctor, eyes mirroring Luffy's. “I heard about this but never saw it myself!” 

“What a  _ SUUUUUUPERRRR _ experience!” cheered Franky.

With a grin, Luffy turned to agree.

Then his jaw dropped, eyes bugging out.

“CHOPPER??? WHY AREN'T YOU A REINDEER ANYMORE? AND WHY ISN'T FRANKY A CYBORG??” 

Usopp shrieked alongside him in surprise. Many shrieks were done by the crew this day. 

Chopper and Franky stood in front of the crew, except…. They didn't quite look like themselves. Franky, being reborn and away from any sea trains or major metalworking workshops, looked rather human. His hair was his usual bright blue, gelled into a sharp point. The usual round goggles sat atop his head, and his round eyes held the mischievous twinkle they always had. However, those were the few features that remained the same. Gone was the three-pronged chin and metal nose. Gone was the mechanical attachments and blue star tattoos. Instead, Franky had normal facial features and a much, much smaller body even though it was buff with muscles. And like the rest of the Strawhats, he looked a hell of a lot younger than he used to be. A jarring change. 

Chopper looked quite different as well. His nose remained blue and he still had his horns, but he looked…. Human. A round face and doe-like eyes with a button nose and curly brown hair. His skin was tan and hands small. But although he looked human, he was not. Goat ears peeked under his round blue hat, and instead of normal human legs, he had goat legs. Complete with a cute little tail. 

“A satyr,” Robin explained, chuckling at Luffy and Usopp's shocked expression. 

“A what?” Luffy asked as the sniper let out a small “oh!” of understanding. 

“I'm a half-human, half-goat!” Chopper chirped, arms wide-spread in a ta-da pose. “And Franky wasn't able to make himself a cyborg. He wasn't injured or anything and people would've thought he was insane if he tried.” 

Luffy and Usopp nodded sagely. “Of course, of course.” 

A swift fist knocked the captain to the floor. 

“What, you're not gonna say hi to me?” 

Luffy shot back up just as quick as he was knocked down. “Nami!” 

The orange-haired navigator raised a brow, trying to hide the smile that tugged at the corner of her lips. “Oh?” 

“I missed you too!”

The redhead sighed, letting the smile take over at the sight of her captain with his usual carefree attitude and smile. Ruffling his head (and ignoring the “Nami-swaaaan!” behind her), she crouched down, smiling at O-Tama, who beamed back. “It seems most of our crew is back, hm?” 

“Yeah! Let's go down to the lake! Sanji, food!” Leaping up, the young girl still in his arms, the Strawhat captain beamed at his crew. “I…. Missed you all so much!” 

Half the crew burst into happy tears and they all began to walk towards the lake, bawling their eyes out. The tree crackled merrily behind them. 

“I… I think ignoring most of their antics will be best for my sanity,” Luke said finally, the centaur and teen abandoned on the hill. The centaur agreed silently.

 

It wouldn't  _ quite _ be a Strawhat reunification if there wasn't a party. Sure, they were still missing two members, but most of them were back together, and wasn't that reason enough to celebrate? Due to their lack of personal space and members, it wasn't full-blown, although Luffy swore to have a huge one as soon as everyone was back together. 

Sanji had dragged out a barbeque grill from who knows where, along with a large collection of food which he was cooking with his usual skill. Nami and Robin chatted to the side while Zoro downed his illegally obtained sake. The rest of the crew were running around the lake, playing tag. The energetic atmosphere around the Strawhats was so utterly different from the usual camp calm, drawing the attention of basically everyone else. Although usually they would invite others to join in, this particular party was solely for the Strawhats. They wished to be selfish and just bask in the presence of their crew.

The other campers, intimidated by their bond to each other, did not ask to join. 

The language of the Blues filled their little corner of the lake, and it almost felt as if they were back in their own world, partying on an island after a good adventure of running away from the Marines or fitting yet another threat to their crew members. But they would look around at how young they looked and the reminder of this strange, new world would crash down upon them. They didn't mind, though. They were with their  _ nakama _ , and everything would turn out fine. 

There was a shriek and a crash as Chopper dodged away from Luffy’s full body tackle, the young captain crashing headfirst into the ground by Nami and Robin. He bounced back, fine as ever, thanks to his devil fruit powers, when Robin's soft call caught his attention. 

“Luffy.”

“Hm?” He turned, looking down at Robin with his easygoing smile.

“I've noticed you aren't using your devil fruit abilities. Why is that?” 

Eyes narrowing in confusion before widening as realization hit, the rubber boy laughed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. 

“Ah, it's a small habit I got. My devil fruit abilities weren't exactly  _ normal _ , so Mama asked me to try and hide them until I got older.” He looked around at the camp, taking in the eccentric nature of the hidden world he was thrust into. “I guess this was what she meant?”

The young archeologist chuckled behind a hand. “Yes, I suppose so. Although our abilities are rather…. Unnatural in this world's terms, it's relatively accepted easily. They've gotten used to Chopper and I's abilities, so it won't take long for them to get used to yours as well.”

“Cool!” Luffy flashed a grin, turning an evil glance to those who were running from him. “I've got you now!” 

“NO FAIR!” They shrieked, now running away with greater speed and determination as the second Pirate King raced to catch them with his noodle arms.

“Oh, our great and powerful Pirate King,” Nami scoffed, watching the game of tag with hidden fondness. 

“Well it’s not every day you get to relive your childhood,” Robin cooly responded, watching as they ran into Zoro and sent the swordsman flying into the lake.

“I know,” the navigator sighed. Remembering something, she straightened up, turning to Robin with an overjoyed grin. “Hey, did you know? Bellemere is my mom again, and Nojiko is my sister! Half-sisters, and Bellemere’s my biological mom. I couldn't believe it!” 

“Really?” The raven-haired girl smiled widely, sharing in the redhead's enthusiasm. “I wasn't aware that that was possible.”

“Me neither! Nojiko told Bellemere about me being a pirate and all, and Bellemere was ok with it!” The navigator's smile was light, but it was clear how much the girl had worried about the response. She continued, watching her immature crewmates run around. “Told me about this world straight up. Apparently, my dad is Hermes.”

“Hermes?” Robin chuckled. “It suits.”

Nami grinned. “That's what they said! Anyways, I don't think much changed about me, except I need to train some more.” Turning back to her friend, she gave a slight tilt of her head. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You know who your godly parent is?”

“Ah, actually, I do. It's Clio, the muse of history. Not an Olympian like most, but an immortal nonetheless.” Dark brown eyes studied her slender hands. “As a result, I'm able to uncover the history of a non-organic object if I touch it and concentrate for a while.”

Nami let out a small whistle of awe, clearly impressed. “Suits you as well. You think it all matches up?”

Robin gave a nod. “From what I know, yes. Although I think we should share this with the entire crew, no?”

With impeccable timing, Sanji called out the start of lunch, or was it dinner? brinner?, and immediately had to kick Luffy away from stealing the meat. Around them, the crew stirred from their positions, making their way to the grill, eager to eat their cook's magnificent cooking once more. 

It didn't take much time for them to be situated in a circle, multiple plates of food stacked in the middle.  Within minutes they were back to their old eating habits, struggling every so often to keep their plates from Luffy’s wandering hands and eating quickly to fill their stomachs before the black hole that was their captain would consume it all.

Only O-Tama was saved from this whirlwind of a mealtime as Luffy was tactfully aware that the little girl had no honed instincts against his wild habits. Laughter and banter were thrown across as they ate, and before long, the plates were cleared and Luffy declared a cuddle pile.

Even the most stoic of the Strawhats were dragged into this massive hug, although they didn't complain. Luffy laid over Zoro's legs with Chopper on his stomach while Usopp leaned against the swordsman. Sanji leaned against Franky while the girls huddled together on Franky's other side, O-Tama in their laps. 

They missed this. The warmth of their fellow crewmates, the calm of an exciting day. The peace after a good meal and being able to rest without fear and annoyance of enemies. Having the familiar auras of their little family after years of separation made them ever so willing to stay in that position for as long as possible. 

A giggle rose from their captain, quickly followed by Usopp and Chopper. Smiles cracked onto the rest, followed by a couple chuckles, and before long the crew lay in their strange formation, laughing heartily. 

As the laughter died down, Luffy grinned up at the sky. “I missed this.”

The rest muttered their agreement.

“We'll find everyone else,” Robin assured her captain. 

“So….. where's everyone from?” Nami asked, glancing around at her crewmates. “I'm from California.”

“Me too,” came the reply from both Franky and Robin, and the three blinked at each other in surprise.

“Florida,” Zoro commented.

“Louisiana,” Usopp added.

“I'm from Wisconsin,” was Sanji's reply.

“New York!” chirped Luffy, O-Tama, and Chopper.

“Hmmmm, have you guys met anyone else?” Luffy hummed in thought. 

With a gleeful clap of her hands, Nami perked up. “Bellemere and Nojiko are my family again!” 

Everyone else, save Robin, immediately perked up in interest. 

“Really?” Chopper asked, eyes twinkling. 

“Yeah! Bellemere's my actual mom now, and Nojiko's my half-sister!” 

“Woooah!” The little satyr grinned. “I met a couple Whitebeard pirates and Shanks!”

“SHANKS??” Luffy screeched, shooting upright and almost sending the little doctor flying. “Shanks is here???” 

“Yeah! He's a demigod, too! Son of Apollo. I met him on a mission once! He found a couple close members of the crew and they're sailing around as pirates again.” 

Luffy gasped in excitement. The knowledge that Shanks was back as well as a couple other members was like an early birthday present. Coupled with the fact that there would be other pirates made Luffy a very excited pirate. 

“Wait,” Zoro piped up. “The Whitebeard Pirates and Koala were in camp at one point, correct?”

Chopper nodded vigorously. “Yup! They stayed in camp for a while, but they left while I was on my year-long quest about Pan.” 

“Pan?” questioned a couple of the crew.

“Like a frying pan?” Luffy tilted his head in confusion.

Robin chuckled at the question and the shocked face of Chopper, deciding to explain simply before their little doctor would go on a tangent. “Pan is the god of the wild and went missing a very long time ago. Satyrs are constantly on a quest in order to find this god and bring him back to restore the wild.” 

“So…. Not a frying pan?” 

“No, Captain, it is not a frying pan.”

The boy pouted. “Frying pans are cool. Makes food.” 

“Which Whitebeard Pirates?” Sanji piped up, gently redirecting the conversation to the bigger topic at hand.

“Izou and Thatch,” Chopper responded. “Izou was the cross-dressing 16th division commander, and Thatch was the 4th division commander and cook.”

“....Thatch?” The rest frowned at the unfamiliar name.

“He was the one that found the Yami Yami no mi,” explained the satyr, careful to avoid Blackbeard's traitorous name. Although years had passed, the name still brought up bad memories. 

The crew quieted, realizing the meaning behind that statement. Although not directly, it wouldn't be false to say that the death of Thatch had been the cause of many of the future tragedies. Luffy hummed, knowing that the man had been close enough to his brother for Ace to spark a wide search for Teach, even against the wishes of Whitebeard and the others. It would be interesting to meet the man one day. 

“I wonder how many others are out there?” he wondered out loud. 

“Probably quite a bit. We're relatively new to this world, so it's unsurprising that we haven't met them yet. And if some of them are demigods, then that's an even smaller chance of us knowing about them,” Nami mused. “This world is a lot different from our own. The weather is like the Blues, and there's much more land than our world.” 

They stayed in comfortable silence for a while, listening to the chatter of the campers doing their activities and the soft wind that blew through the camp. It was getting darker now, and a little chilly, too, but they simply pressed closer together and ignored it all. 

“Do you guys know your godly parent?” Franky asked quietly. 

“Bellemere said mine was Hermes,” Nami replied. 

“My mother is Clio, muse of history,” Robin said.

“Muse?” Luffy bent his head back to look at his archaeologist. “What's that?”

“There are nine Muses who are in charge of various arts,” Robin explained. “There's not many children of them. As a child of Cl,io it seems that I am able to know the history of a non-living object if I concentrate while holding it. Chiron and the others seem to believe that my devil fruit abilities are due to my parentage.”

The crew chuckled at that.

“I’m the son of Ares,” Zoro hummed. “He thinks I'm some super child or something.” He snorted. “As if. I got this strong cause I  _ trained _ .” 

“Son of Aphrodite,” said Sanji with a wave of his hand. “Got some control over clothes and makeup, apparently, although I don't know how that works. It automatically means you know French, too, but I  _ am  _ French, so it doesn't help.”

“What, there's no god of cooking?” Luffy huffed. 

The cook suddenly became mildly sheepishly. “Well, there's Hestia, she's the goddess of the hearth and family, so I guess cooking falls under that? But she doesn't have children.”

Robin leaned forward with a small smile. “She tends to visit camp a lot, but many people don't notice or make a decision to interact, as she usually appears as a young girl at the hearth. Sanji ended up becoming friends and gained her blessing, the ability to exude a comforting aura.” 

“Ironic, considering I'm the cook of the Pirate King,” Sanji chuckled, pulling out a lollipop to roll around in his mouth in lieu of a cigarette. 

“I saw a girl by the fireplace when Chiron was giving me the tour.” Absentmindedly patting Chopper, who had taken his hat off and cuddling it, Luffy reached up to poke Zoro with his free hand. Zoro simply grunted and swatted it away.  “I don't know who my dad is.”

“Probably Poseidon,” Chopper looked up with a smile. “You smell like the ocean.”

“Plus, you aren't affected by seawater anymore.” Robin pointed out. 

The satyr gaped. “ _ Really _ ? Lucky….”

“Shishishi! What does everyone else smell like?”

“Ah! Zoro smells kind of metallic, like blood, Usopp smells like the sun, Robin smells like books, Franky smells like metal, Nami smells like the wind, Sanji smells like roses, and O-Tama smells like flowers!” As he spoke, he pointed to each crew member. “That's mostly their ‘demigod’ scent, though. The more physical scent has more.” 

“Demigod scent?” Franky frowned in confusion.

“Yeah! There's a scent that people can't really smell, and it's what monsters track down to find demigods. It's from your godly parent.” With a frown, Chopper looked up at Luffy, who tilted his head. “But there's a weird scent kinda masking yours, Luffy. I can smell the ocean mostly cause I'm close to you, but if I was further away, it would seem like you don't have that demigod scent.” He wrinkled his nose. “It's a strong physical scent.” 

“Something smelly?” With a frown, Luffy racked his brains for anything that could be smelly. Very smelly. Smelly…..

His expression darkened with a scowl that left the others tense. “Smelly Gabe.”

“Smelly who?” Sanji frowned. 

“Smelly Gabe. This asshole that my mom married. She said I would understand that he was protecting me or something.” His scowl grew deeper. “He's a complete ass to my mom. Only reason why I didn't kick his ass ten ways to hell is cause Mama asked me not to.” 

“Your mom is smart.” Chopper said softly. “Cause of the scent, monsters wouldn't be able to find you that easily. If your dad really  _ is _ Poseidon, then it would bring a lot of monsters to your doorstep.” 

Taking a deep breath, Luffy stood up, still holding Chopper. Although it was comical, with the ex-reindeer’s legs reaching the floor but still being lifted by the rubber arms, Luffy looked every bit of the captain that he was. His sea-green eyes jumped from crew member to crew member, expression serious. The Strawhats sat up a little straighter, sending the order that was soon to come. 

“Mama was taken by the Minotaur on our way here and she exploded into gold light.” His brows furrowed. “I don't know where she is, but I  _ will _ find her. We'll train for the next couple of days to get our strength back, and then we'll set off to find her and our lost nakama. Any questions?”

They grinned, the sharp glint in their eyes matching Luffy's. “Nope!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you have any ideas, constructive criticisms, anything, just comment them down below bc i'm gonna be 100% honest here, i'm not entirely sure what i'm doing


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry about the late updates! School's been kicking my ass -_-  
> I was reading over the fic and found so many awkward typos so whenever i have the time, i'm going to go over and fix as much as i can find   
> typos, my mortal enemy

As Luffy flopped back down onto Zoro's legs with a satisfied grin, Nami turned to Robin with a tilt of her head. “Where do we sleep?”

Robin gave a hum of thought. “Well, the campers are separated by godly parent. Each god has their own cabin for their children to sleep in. Unclaimed children and children of gods other than the Olympians stay in the Hermes cabin, as he is the god of travelers.” 

With a nod, Nami noted the use of the word “campers” rather than “we”. “And us?”

“We tend to simply sleep here. Strangely enough, we're unnoticed and it isn't too cold. It's rather peaceful.” Robin replied smoothly.

It didn’t take long for them to light a small fire and gather around it, the soft sounds of their chatter filling the air. The pirates shifted every now and again, each time leaving the group in a slightly different version of a dogpile. At one point, they were separated into pairs, then into quads, slowly merging together into one large pile. Then the people underneath would complain, and the pile would break apart, the crew separating back into pairs, except now with a different person. And this process would repeat until the younger crewmembers fell asleep, leaving the older crewmates to chatter quietly amongst themselves before falling asleep as well, curled up against the sleeping forms of their found family.

 

Usopp was the first to wake, just as the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon. He was soon followed by Sanji, and the two carefully slipped out of the tangled mess of limbs to get ready for the day. Sanji began his preparation of breakfast as Usopp began to wander off into the heart of camp, deciding to walk a bit and enjoy the quiet cool of the morning. The further he walked from his crewmates, the more the morning chill began to sit on him, and by the time he was down by the training area, he mildly regretted not bringing a jacket.

After a moment of contemplation, the curly-haired male decided to work out. He needed to build up his muscles once again, and it would help warm him up. Half-jogging to the gym, he peeked in, taking stock of what was inside and mildly grateful at the lack of people. Spying a punching bag in the corner, he grinned brightly in triumph, making his way over as he contemplated his choices. 

First off, boxing with a punching bag was probably not safe without wraps, but he didn’t have any right now. But then again, it was a chance to try to reawaken his armament haki, right? Plus, he healed rather quickly. 

“Meh, I’ll be fine. I’ve been through worse.” The sniper muttered as he slipped into the vaguely familiar stance. He hadn’t actually boxed since he was reborn, having no opportunity nor reason too. He hadn’t been  _ sure _ if he wasn’t alone after being reborn, and there was little to no monsters around him to force him to defend himself constantly. Sure, he’d  _ seen _ strange things, but to be honest, he wasn’t sure if it was strange in this world. No one had reacted, and he wasn’t going to draw strange attention to himself by pointing it out. He gave a couple of punches at the red punching bag, ignoring the slight stinging sensation it left.

Then he had met up with Zoro, Sanji, and Robin, and he had felt so overwhelmed by the fact that he  _ wasn't alone _ . His family was  _ there _ , with him, and it wasn't a dream. There was no hesitation on joining them on their strange quest, and he had grabbed the bare necessities, like his mini Kabuto that he had carved and various other supplies. He lived in an orphanage, and no one would quite miss him. He wasn't the most popular kid.

Good thing he had grabbed medical supplies, because they had run out of their own supplies as Zoro, in true Zoro fashion, had gotten himself injured in the battle and had used up the meager supply they had.

Another couple punches at the punching bag left it swinging. Well, even if he hadn’t  _ quite _ kept up his physique, it wasn’t like he had wasted away. He had still used his slingshot, practiced, and had in general played around outside like a normal kid. Didn’t slack in PE, so he wasn’t  _ out _ of shape. Still far from the level he used to be, though.

“Boxing without proper gear can damage your hands, you know.” A low voice cautioned.

With a yelp, Usopp spun around, sending a sharp punch. Had he been so lost in thought that he didn’t notice anyone approaching him?

A firm hand caught the punch, and Usopp glanced up, squeaking as he recognized the tall figure of Chiron in front of him.

“Ah! Sorry, you startled me, and-” The sniper stumbled over his words, waving his hands.

“No, it’s fine. Although you must have been deep in thought if you hadn’t heard my hooves,” Chiron chuckled, watching as the young boy flush. “Let me check your hands.”

“Well, uh, yeah I guess,” Usopp chuckled. “My hands? Uh, they’re fine, doesn’t hurt much.” 

Chiron examined the hand he had in his grasp from the previous punch. Rather than being raw and perhaps even bleeding, the knuckles were simply pink, and even then it seemed like they were beginning to heal. The centaur let out a low hum of thought. “You seem to heal quickly.”

“Yeah, I do. Been like that since I was a kid,” Usopp shrugged. 

“Why the boxing? You tend to train more in slingshots,” Chiron asked. 

“To build up my strength! I may be a sniper, but I’ve got to be able to handle myself in a tough spot, right?”

Chiron hummed. “You are correct. It is almost time for breakfast, so I suggest you go clean up.”

Usopp nodded. “Sure. Thanks for checking my hands!” With a wave, the boy jogged off, his tied back hair bouncing gently as he did. The sunlight caught against some stray strands, giving it the appearance of gold. 

Rubbing his chin in thought, Chiron hummed, watching as the young boy disappeared over to where Chiron knew the rest of his crew was waiting.

“A strange crew. I do wonder when they will be claimed.”

 

“Usopp! Where were you?” Luffy yelled as he spotted the sniper jogging over. “It’s almost breakfast!”

“Sorry! Went to try boxing again,” Usopp said, grinning as he sat by his captain, watching as Sanji expertly put his last touches on their breakfast. 

Zoro opened an eye, looking up from where he sat, leaning against a small boulder. “Boxing? You should’ve called me.”

“Well, you were asleep.”

“So?”

“....Zoro it’s almost impossible to wake you up.”

“Shishishi! Usopp’s not wrong!”

“Luffy you’re not any better, though!”

Zoro huffed, closing his eye and settling back down. “Well we can train after breakfast. Physical and haki, right?”

Usopp hummed an affirmative. 

Nami wandered over, a small smirk on her lips. Zoro and Usopp both went on guard, not quite trusting the smile, knowing from personal experience that a chance to make money was what caught their navigator’s attention. 

“Usoooopp~”

“Y-Yes?”

“I heard that there’s a shooting competition later today. And I bet that bets are going to be placed.”

Usopp blinked and sighed, understanding the implications the little announcement brought. “Fine. But I get 20%”

“10.”

“20.”

“5.”

“That’s going backwards!”

“3.”

“15!”

“5.”

“10?”

“Mmmm, maybe.”

“Maybe???”

As the two chattered, the rest of the Strawhats shuffled about, getting ready in their own little ways. Soon afterwards, Sanji called them all together, a warm pile of pancakes ready for them. It didn’t take long for the pile to disappear, even with Sanji continuously making more. 

The rest of the day was spent physically training, with the Monster Trio instructing the others as they sparred with each other. Without use of their weapons and abilities, it was up to their technique and physical strength to beat their partner. Of course, it was unfair in some situations for those whose fighting style suited more evasive maneuvers, but it was good training nonetheless. 

Robin had already reawakened both haki, and refrained from using them in battle. While Usopp had reawakened his observational and was using the spars to train it and awaken his armament, Nami was in the process of trying to keep her haki under control. It had the tendency to appear at random during battles, and she was having trouble willing it to appear on command. Chopper had yet to reawaken his armament as well, while Franky was the opposite. O-Tama received much more gentle training on haki from Sanji, while Luffy and Zoro vigorously trained the crew. 

Lunch came and went, and the training continued. By the time the sun was beginning to lower in the sky, most of the crew was black and blue all over. Groans filled the air, and the campers who walked by winced in sympathy. 

“How am I supposed to shoot now?” Usopp groaned, panting heavily. “I can't feel my arms….”

“The shooting competition can be haki practice!” Luffy replied cheerfully. A pebble thrown by the sniper bounced off his head. “See! Good aim.”

After a precious ten minutes of rest, Nami and the others dragged Usopp down to the archery range, cheering all the while. Ears dark with blush, Usopp tore himself from the crew to sign up for the competition. Waving a greeting to Luke, who was overlooking the competition, he grabbed a pen and scribbled down his name. 

The Hermes counselor glanced at the bruises with pity. “What happened?”

“Training,” Usopp hummed, slowly stretching out his arms. 

Luke shifted his weight to one foot, crossing his arms. “That looks like too much. Are you sure you're ok with this?”

Usopp huffed. “Oh yeah, they push me way too hard. I feel like death.” 

At Luke's darkening expression the sniper took a step back, waving his hands. “I'm joking! I asked for training anyways. My crew would  _ never _ hurt me on purpose.” 

Luke gestured at the bruises. “You  _ are _ hurt.”

Usopp scoffed. “No, not really. There's a difference. You know what I mean. They care for me. See?” He nodded at the crew, who were laughing and waving at Usopp. “I've got nothing to worry about. They have my back, and I have theirs. We do what we can, and when we've done all we can, we tell the others ‘I've done all I can. Now it's your turn.’” 

At Chiron's call, the other archers began making their way over with their bows and arrows. Usopp grabbed his mini Kabuto and checked his pouch, which were full of small pebbles. With a grin at Luke, the sniper ran off as well, leaving the counselor with a thoughtful expression. 

The archers were all spread out in front of the targets, their bows at the ready. Strings were pulled taut, and each of them had their eye trained at the center. Usopp stuck out with his slingshot, but he looked just as ready and dangerous as the others. 

A whistle called. The archers shot.

Most of the arrows hit their mark. Others hit a little too far to the side. The number of contestants decreased. 

The targets were placed further away. Bows and a slingshot was drawn, eyes focused. A whistle blew. The thunk of projectiles echoed through the arena. 

The number of contestants decreased once more. 

The next challenge was moving targets. The targets were placed on rolling mats and pushed between two armored campers. 

The whistle blew. 

The flurry of projectiles flew towards the targets. 

The number of contestants shrunk dramatically. 

Next, the targets were moving much more quickly. 

The number of contestants shrank down to two. 

The arena was now deathly quiet as the new challenge was set up. The tension was thick in the air as the campers awaited the new challenge. 

A couple campers stood behind a wooden wall with a basket filled with an assortment of different objects. At the shrill sound of the whistle, they began to chuck them at the contestants. 

Apples, wooden balls, grapes, strawberries, even blunt arrows began to shower upon the two contestants. The other contestant swiftly notched three arrows onto his bow, shooting down three different projectiles at once. Usopp held a couple of stones in his fist, shooting and reloading in quick succession, taking down the projectiles with sharp precision. Although the other had to dodge every once in a while to avoid projectiles they hadn't been able to hit in time, Usopp stood his ground, swiftly hitting everything coming his way.

Soon the whistle blew and the projectiles stopped. The ground was littered with them, which a couple campers dashed forward to collect for counting. 

Laying them out, it was easy to see who had struck what. Each archer had different colored arrows, and the arrows were easily matched. Usopp's rocks had simply embedded themselves into the targets, and for the smaller targets, had either split them apart or had exploded them. 

A few tense minutes passed as the counting took place. The crowd chattered amongst themselves, quieting as Chiron trotted up and knocked his hoof against the rock to grab their attention. 

Clearing his throat, the centaur spoke. 

“The winner of this competition is…” 

The crowd waited with bated breath.

“.....Usopp!”

The Strawhats erupted with cheers, startling the rest of the campers.

“YEAH USOPP!”

“SUUUPERRRR!”

“WOO! OF COURSE HE'D WIN, IT'S USOPP!” 

Accepting the laurel crown with a grin, Usopp pumped a fist into the air with a whoop. “THE GREAT USOPP HAS WON!” 

A golden symbol of the sun shimmered over his head. The crowd fell silent save the Strawhats, who still cheered and laughed. 

Chiron stomped his foot a couple times, grabbing their attention. 

Luffy spoke up. “Usopp, why is your hair on fire?”

“My hair? What do you mean my hair-” Looking up, Usopp yelped, stumbling back a couple steps. “WHAT IS THAT?”

The centaur cleared his throat. “That is the symbol of Apollo. Welcome, Usopp, son of Apollo, God of archery and the sun.” 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey yall!  
> first off let me apologize for the extremely sporadic updates. it's hard finding time to write and figuring out HOW to write.   
> -sigh- writing is not my strong suit. Thanks to my friend Mau for being my beta ;;  
> i'm trying to progress plot a little more quickly, so apologies if things have felt too slow  
> And thank you so much to the people who have been commenting on each chapter, i read through them all and they make me so so happy uwu  
> If you guys see an error or have an idea or whatever, just throw them down in the comments or something  
> thanks for reading! (oh fuk this got long)

Rather than the traditional moving of cabins that came after the claiming of a camper, Usopp was carried by cheering Strawhats back to their little camp, laughing all the while. Nami had stuck back a while to gleefully collect all the bets, but soon she was with the rest of the crew, laughing as well. In celebration of Usopp's win, the crew flopped down into a massive pile and had begun to chatter about past wins, throwing compliments at each other's fighting skill. 

Although the claiming of Usopp was still great, the crew didn't quite care. After all, parentage had nothing with the person's character. Sure, some of the abilities made sense now, but it didn't change who the person was as a whole. So rather than celebrate the claiming, they celebrated the win. 

 

Glancing down at the main part of camp, where the cabins were, Nami snorted. “You know, it's kind of funny how Chiron hasn't even tried to move us into the cabins.” 

Zoro simply huffed. “We wouldn't even listen.”

“I know!” Nami laughed. “But what would we have even  _ said _ ?”

Luffy looked up with a serious expression. “‘Sir, these are my emotional support nakama.’” 

The entire crew snorted as one. 

“Yeah… There’s no separating us,” Nami huffed, a fond smile playing on her lips. 

Luffy hummed in agreement. “Not even death.”

The rest of the crew gave a satisfied cheer in response. 

 

After the celebration of a win, the Strawhats had sat down in order to plan for their departure. Perhaps they weren’t as strong as they were in their past life, but if the things this world had shown them were telling of the strength of this world, they would be fine. Besides, there’s no better training than out in the field, isn’t there? 

They had planned such: they would begin packing the next day, and leave by the end of the day after that. The crew members that had stayed at the camp earlier had told them of the various quests and the rules attached to them. Obviously, they had no intention of leaving as a “quest” and being only limited to three. This was their own adventure, and while they did plan to return in order to have a place to stay before finding some sort of boat to live on, there was no way they were going to leave with the expectations of being a hero imposed by the camp. They weren’t heroes, dammit, they were pirates! And pirates did what they wanted.

After some talk and thought, O-Tama was to stay behind. The crew dearly loved O-Tama, but they were still new to this world and had no desire to drag along a child with no training on a potentially life-threatening mission. So they had asked her to stay and train, becoming stronger and stronger, strong enough to carry her own weight and join them on more adventures soon to come. O-Tama, although saddened by this conclusion, had seen the logic behind their decision and had agreed. 

 

The next day came quickly, and the crew split up to start and finish their preparations. Sanji and Usopp went to find ways to sneak out the food, Nami went to collect funds, Chopper went to collect first aid supplies, Robin went to research on various locations, Franky fiddled with his own inventions to improve upon on them, Usopp did the same with his own weapons, and Zoro and Luffy were left to train and collect any possible weapons. 

It was when the captain and his first mate were passing by the Big House when they sensed it. An aura. Powerful. And very,  _ very _ familiar.

Zoro wasn’t sure if he had seen his captain run faster than he just had. He followed at a light jog.

Luffy crashed through the door, eyes wide and wild, looking around for the source of the aura. Not in the living room. The rubber man shot down the hallway, barging into the room he had sensed the aura. 

The room looked like an office, but Luffy paid no mind to his surroundings as his eyes narrowed into the familiar red-haired man, dressed with a simple cloak and a very familiar straw hat.

“Hello, Anchor,” Shanks grinned, turning to greet the wide-eyed boy.

The corners of Luffy’s lips stretched unnaturally wide as he giggled childishly. He would let the nickname go for now. 

“Shanks!!” With a shriek, he stretched, wrapping his arms around the older pirate’s torso before flying to latch himself onto the man like a monkey. “You’re here, too!”

Chiron, the poor man, looked utterly confused as his conversation with Shanks was interrupted by the energetic boy. And then he began to stretch. And Chiron decided that the best course of action was to go with the flow. With a light cough, he raised a brow at the clingy boy. “I take it that you know Shanks?”

“Shishishi! Of course I do!” Luffy grinned widely, then looked up at the red-haired man. “Chopper told me you were in this world too but I didn’t expect to see you here! Why are you here?”

Shanks gave a grin to match Luffy’s. “I used to go here! So I decided to visit. Catch up with Chiron and,” here he gave a wink, “I knew you’d be here.”

Luffy blinked up with wide, owlish eyes. “Huh? You knew I’d be here?”

With a chuckle, Shanks began to walk towards the doorway. “Hey Chiron, I’ll catch up in a bit, I need to talk to them for a bit.”

Chiron nodded. “Of course. Take your time.”

As the two walked out the door, Zoro trailing behind them (when had he gotten there?) Chiron sighed, turning back to the work he had been doing before the red-haired man had arrived. With the combination of Shanks and the little group that called themselves the “Strawhats”, Chiron felt as if there was chaos on its way.

 

“Shishishi, Zoro didn’t get lost!” Luffy bent his neck, grinning at the swordsman who simply huffed from where he walked behind Shanks.

“Tch, I don’t get lost.”

Shanks merely let out a guffaw, making his way out of the Big House and towards the lake. Luffy’s weight from where the young pirate was still clinging to him was nothing, and a couple campers walking past shot them a couple confused stares. Once reaching the edge of the lake, he plopped down, arms cradled around the younger boy. 

“It’s been a while, eh Luffy?”

“Definitely! How did you know I was here?” Luffy grinned, tilting his head. 

“Mmmm, a little dream told me.” Shanks winked. “I’m a child of Apollo here.”

Luffy scrunched up his nose, face reddening with thought. Zoro looked confused as well, although not to the degree of his captain.

“Apollo is the god of prophecy.”

“Oh! Usopp’s one, too!”

“Oh?” Shanks gave a laugh, ruffling Luffy’s hair. “So is Yasopp. Maybe one day they’ll meet.” 

The rubber boy gave a determined nod. “Definitely. Usopp misses him.” Looking down, Luffy grabbed Shank’s hands and raised them up, looking at the hands and the elder pirate’s face at the same time. 

“Man, it’s kinda weird seeing you with an arm again. You still have your scars, though.”

“Brat!” Shanks cackled, giving a little knock on Luffy’s head that left it swinging slightly. “It’s still weird to be able to use both arms. Got used to it though.” 

“I know the feeling.” Zoro chuckled, opening the eye that had been scarred shut in his previous life.

The redhead gave a nod of understanding to Zoro before lifting a hand to gently touch the three scars that crossed over his left eye. “These were from a monster, though. When I was younger, I was saving a kid and got scratched. So this is a badge of honor now.” With a shake of his head at the old memory, he grinned back at Luffy, who had been listening with an easy grin on his face.“So, what are you planning to do?”

Luffy’s face grew uncharacteristically serious. “Some monster took my mom. I’m going to go get her back. Then I’m going to get a ship and explore this entire world!” His face grew brighter by the end of his statement.

With a nod, Shanks reached up to grab the straw-hat that rested upon his head. Taking it off, he plopped it on Luffy’s head with a little hum. “Really? Then take this as a good luck charm. Afterall, you can’t be Strawhat Luffy without your straw hat, hm?”

Luffy blinked in surprise before giving a determined grin, adjusting the hat upon his own black locks. Shanks had said the same thing when Luffy had tried to give the hat back after becoming the Pirate King. “It’s yours now.” he had said. “You’ve earned the right to keep it. Besides, you can’t be Strawhat Luffy without your hat, right?” And Luffy had kept those words in his heart for every moment since. Now, even with his rebirth, he carried those words carefully. He had avoided buying any simple straw hat, as it held no connection, no meaning. He was content with not getting another straw hat. It wouldn’t be able to replace the one he had before, the one gifted to him with a promise. 

This hat was a different matter. This hat was yet another gift from Shanks, this time with words of good luck. Although different, it carried similar sentiment, and he would hold this hat as his treasure till the end of his days. The sense of something missing settled as soon as the familiar weight settled on his head, and he smiled, glad with the fate of his hat. 

“So later, if you’re going to explore the seas, you’ll run into the Sea of Monsters, hm?” Shanks mused, leaning back, failing to hide a grin as the two younger pirates leaned forwards with eager eyes. “It’s to the southeast, where it’s called the Bermuda Triangle by normal mortals. It’s a little small, I’ll say, but entertaining. You might find something of use there. Something a little more magical than most.”

Luffy frowned. “Why are you telling me this?”

Shanks looked to the sky. “Because it will help you fulfill a wish.” And with this statement he stood, chuckling as Luffy spilled onto the grass with a squawk. “Gotta go now, Anchor. Tell your crew I said hi.”

Luffy pouted but quickly grinned, standing up to brush himself off. “Ok! I’ll see you one day on the seas?”

Shanks nodded. “Of course.”

 

After a couple hours, the Strawhats met back up their mini camp, sharing the supplies and information gathered. Nami hadn’t gathered as many funds as she had hoped; there was a limit to what you could gamble off of teens stuck in a camp without a job. However, it was sufficient enough for them to start off, collecting more along the way. It was a pain that there weren’t any bad pirates they could just loot off of, but they would manage. Sanji was in a similar situation; he had gathered large amounts of food, but with the appetite of the crew, it wouldn’t last too long. It was probably for the better, they couldn’t simply lug around bags full of food. Chopper was quite successful with his own mission, being fully stocked with medicine. Robin was full of knowledge, although not much helped to find the source of being “turned into golden dust” as Luffy had described. Usopp and Franky had basically raided the forges for supplies, tinkering around to create better weapons. Not all of them had masted armament and the duo had created celestial bronze ammunition such as blades and bullets. Usopp had recreated the Climatact the best he could, although it differed from the original due to different technology. Regardless, Nami had crushed the sniper in a tight hug when he had presented the weapon to her. (Sanji had sighed in jealousy in the background.) Franky had created brand-spanking-new cannons that had a distinct robotic feel to it and could shoot mini cannonballs and also normal-sized bullets. Luffy and Zoro (well just Luffy), told the rest of the crew about their run-in with Shanks.

(“I got my hat back!”)

(“WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHANKS IS MY HALF-BROTHER NOW???” Usopp had screamed, hands gripping his hair. “AND MY DAD IS-????” After a couple of moments of screaming, he had given up on trying to understand.)

Robin turned to Luffy. “Luffy, there’s a little thing called Capture the Flag. There are two teams and they are battling to get the flag of the other team. It’s in the forest. I take it that you are interested?”

She took Luffy’s shining eyes as a yes.

 

The divisions of teams was a bit of a nightmare. Five of the Strawhats were in one cabin, Hermes, while the others were more scattered into other cabins. 

The teams were divided as such:

On Team Red was the Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo, and Hephaestus cabins.

On Team Blue was the Hermes, Dionysus, Athena, and Demeter cabins. 

Chopper, being a satyr, stayed by Chiron as a medic.

The Strawhats grinned sharp grins at each other, and the campers around them backed away in mild fear. 

In Team Red, Sanji and Zoro were set as offense with Usopp as backup. 

In Team Blue, Luffy and Franky were offense while Nami and O-Tama were backup with Robin as one of the flag guards. 

It was time to play.

 

Chiron came forward, stomping his hoof on the ground to catch the attention of all present. “Heroes! You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!”

With a flourish of his arms, the tables in front of him filled with various weapons and armor, which the campers rushed forward to grab. The Strawhats readied their own weapons or stretched, for those who didn’t have one. O-Tama plucked a couple of dango from her cheeks. 

Luffy could see a angry red banner with a bloody spear and a boar’s head painted on held up by Zoro, while someone in the Athena cabin held a glistening grey banner with a barn owl on top an olive tree. He turned to Robin, question on his tongue, when the archaeologist answered before he could speak.

“Our goal is to get the enemy banner and bring it over to friendly territory. We are also to keep the enemy from taking our banner.” Robin grinned as Luffy nodded sagely, an almost comically serious expression on his face.

Each of the teams waited by the edge of the forest, charging with battle cries as the sound of a conch horn filled the air.

“Franky!” Luffy yelled as they ran towards enemy territory. “Stay with me, keep an eye out for Zoro and Sanji! Nami, keep hidden and keep an eye out for Usopp. O-Tama, see if you can tame any creatures!”

The three nodded and the group seemingly split, Luffy and Franky still charging forward as Nami seemed to disappear and O-Tama ran towards where she had heard noises of creatures. Luffy stretched out with his haki, grinning sharply when he sensed the fierce auras of his cook and first mate. 

“This way,” he said, adjusting his direction. Franky followed with a dangerous grin, readying his mini-cannon. 

It really didn’t take long for the powerhouses to find each other. Luffy and Franky were about half-way through enemy territory when Zoro had stumbled out of the bushes, an angry Sanji behind him. 

“Don’t go in a random direction you directionless marimo-” 

“Ah.”

“Ah.”

“.....”

 

“ **_GOMU GOMU NO-_ ** ”

“ **_FRRRRANKY-_ ** ”

“ **_TATSU-_ ** ”

“ **_COLLIER-_ ** ”

Those with haki could sense the campers who had heard their shouts immediately run the other direction.

“ **_GATLING!_ ** ”

“ **_CANNON!_ ** ”

“ **_MAKI!_ ** ”

“ **_ÉPAULE!_ ** ”

The air and ground both vibrated with the power of these attacks, the nearby foliage broken and battered, rocks cracking as stray attacks hit them. Luffy deflected Zoro’s attack with his punches as Franky’s cannonball was deflected by Sanji’s kicks. Leaping back to regain their balance, they re-attacked with the same amount of power. Zoro countered Luffy and Franky countered Sanji. Each attack was yelled and thrown, the dangerous smirks never leaving any of their faces.

Behind them, a silent bullet streaked from a tree only to intercepted by a swift wind.

The air was charged with energy, both sides not bothering to hold back. Both backup and offense players had to dodge attacks from the other. Both sides were equally covered in bruises and the occasional slash. It was nice for them to let loose in a setting where they were expected to fight their hardest. Sure they sparred, but it was a little different. Besides, they had to pay a little more attention to make sure they wouldn’t completely wreck the camp. The forest was less so. 

A piercing whistle split through the air and the six froze, those with haki narrowing their eyes as they sensed O-Tama and…. Something make their way to where they fought.

They didn’t need to wait long as a giant ant crashed through the trees, a happily shrieking O-Tama running not far behind.

“OH COME  _ ON _ !” Sanji yelled, jumping back to avoid the fierce snap of the ant’s mandibles. “Myrmekes?  _ Really _ ?”

Nimble were the cook and first mate, but so was the Myrmeke, who additionally had ant armor and dissolving acid. It spat wildly in the direction of Zoro and Sanji, who had to dance their way around the sizzling acid.

Zoro grit his teeth, sheathing his swords and grabbing the hilt of one. “Ittoryu Iai!”

Sanji leapt away to send a barrage of kicks to Luffy and Franky, who had been trying to get past. O-Tama was quickly swept away by Nami.

Quicker than the eye could see, Zoro moved forward, drawing and resheathing his bronze katana.

“Shishi Sonson!”

The ant burst into sulfuric dust. 

The battle paused as both sides watched the dust settle and Zoro pant lightly. Before the battle could continue, however, the conch horn blew once more, signaling the end of the game.

“So… Who won?” Usopp asked, leaping out of a tree.

“Let’s go find out,” Nsmi hummed, putting down Mirage Tempo.

The offense players chuckled amongst each other, poking at each other’s wounds as they walked. O-Tama, although a little saddened by the death of her new friend, cheered up as she wiggled into conversation with the others. Nami had to chuckle as she watched, gaze trailing over the various wounds they carried. 

“This doesn’t count as maiming, does it?”

 

When the six trudged out of the forest, the campers turned to watch as their cheers died down slightly, expressions varying at their physical state. There was awe, concern, a bit of fear, and in the case of Robin, amusement. Chiron had the expression of disapprovement, which went largely ignored by the Strawhats. 

Luffy, rather than going around the river, stepped into it. Then froze as an aura pinged at the edge of his haki. With a frown he turned, followed by both Zoro and Sanji. 

“Dog?” was his only words. Zoro and Sanji glanced over with a quirk of an eyebrow.

A howl pierced through the air, and the two sighed then nodded. Of course Luffy would be right. Behind them, the campers huddled together, feeling a chill as they heard the ghastly noise. Chiron narrowed his eyes, motioning for someone to bring him his bow. 

In front of them stood a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes that bore into Luffy’s own blue, the dagger-like fangs dripping with saliva. It growled, lowering its body in preparation of a jump. Luffy shifted his stance, lifting his arm in ready of a punch. He felt invigorated, filled with energy and the power to fight. 

“Mine.” were his only words, and Zoro and Sanji nodded, turning to join the rest of the crew. Chiron watched, eyes widening as he understood. 

“Luffy, no-!”

The words were barely out of the centaur’s mouth when the rubber boy shot forward, punching the hound to the ground just as it jumped. It landed with a crash, quickly getting back up with a growl. Luffy simply grinned back. 

“That’s a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment!” The strawhats heard someone mutter. “They’re not supposed to….”

Chiron had a hard time aiming. Both Luffy and the hellhound were leaping around much too quickly, the rubber boy much to close to the hellhound for Chiron’s liking. Why, oh  _ why _ had the boy run  _ towards _ the hound rather than  _ away _ ?

With a final kick, Luffy sent the hellhound crashing into the rocks as he himself landed in the river. The hellhound poofed into dust as Luffy laughed, turning to flash a thumbs up to his crew. Said crew just sighed before grinning back. Typical captain. 

Chopper ran up to Luffy, frantically searching for injuries. But strangely, he had none. None. Not even from before the hellhound.

The little satyr frowned, tugging at the rubber skin. “Luffy, how have you healed already?”

“Huh?” Luffy looked down with a frown. Sure, he had an abnormal healing rate, but this was new. 

There was a collective gasp and both doctor and captain looked up at the campers, frowning in confusion at the shocked faces that greeted them. Chopper turned back to Luffy, looking up. Understanding flashed in his eyes and he tugged on Luffy’s arm, pointing up.

Luffy looked up.

And saw a bright green trident fading from the air.

There was a hushed silence over the camp as everyone came to realize what the symbol had meant. Chiron stepped forward, face grim. 

“It is determined,” the centaur said, kneeling along with every camper other than the Strawhats, who simply looked confused with the exception of Robin, Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper.

“Poseidon,” Chiron began. “Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail Luffy Jackson, Son of the Sea God.”

“ _ So Chopper, you were right? _ ” Luffy whispered down to Chopper. Chopper simply giggled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing fight scenes is so  
> so hard  
> -wheeze-  
> i need practice


End file.
